


The House on the Hill

by Chandlure



Category: One Piece
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Adapted fangame, Alcohol/Smoking, Angst, Blood, Body Horror, Crew as Family, Disordered Eating, Drama, Excessive Drinking, F/M, Family, Gen, HetaOni - Freeform, Implied Relationships, Inter-crew fighting, M/M, Mindfuck, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Violence, high stress situations, intermingled Story Art
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:47:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24634795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chandlure/pseuds/Chandlure
Summary: On a seemingly innocent island, the Straw Hats and Law, hear of a haunted mansion on top of the hill just out of the town. Excited to explore: Luffy, Zoro, Robin, Chopper, and Franky go off to check out the mansion. When they fail to return by the next morning: Usopp, Nami, Sanji and Law go to find them.This is a fanfiction of the game HetaOni (which is a recreation of the game Ao Oni), with the characters of One Piece used for the purposes of this recreation. It does not assume familiarity with the game.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji, Trafalgar D. Water Law/Usopp
Comments: 33
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings will be at the END of each chapter - check there FIRST before reading the chapters, just in case.
> 
> I've added Story Art, let me know if it gets annoying and I can add it to the end of the story.

_A Chandlure Trainez Novelette_

* * *

**The House on the Hill  
**

* * *

The mansion sat atop a hill just outside the village of Morte. It wasn't in as much disrepair as the rumours down in the village had claimed. Sure, the walls and windows were dingy, the greyish-beige paint was peeling off the porch, doors and around the windows, and the lawn was positively overrun with weeds, but the windows were unbroken, and the front door solid. It was unassuming, and even Usopp had to wonder why this place, of all the possible places, was chosen as the haunt of choice for tests of bravery. Of course, when Luffy had heard rumours of a haunted mansion at the local bar, he insisted some of them go and check it out. And so, he dragged Zoro, Franky, Chopper and Robin with him that evening.

All was well until the rest of the crew woke up the next morning and realized that the group had yet to return. With the log pose ready to set in a few hours, Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Law went out to find them. Leaving Brook and Law's crew behind at the port.

The four of them stood at the bottom step of the porch leading up to the mansion, agitation filling their bodies with every second that passed. They could not sense, see or hear their friends anywhere.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Sanji asked, his eyebrows pressed together in confusion as smoke flowed up from his cigarette. His eyes scanned the windows, a frown on his face.

"That's what the villagers said," Usopp insisted. "Although, it looks much nicer than I thought it would be based on the descriptions."

Nami crossed her arms, "I know! I almost regret not coming with them last night. There is probably loads of treasure in there to steal!"

Sanji placed his hands in his pockets and gave an exasperated sigh. "They probably got bored and wandered off. There doesn't seem to be much to keep Luffy's attention here." Law hummed in agreement before he tensed, his hand moving to his sword.

There was a creak from the porch, and Usopp ran to hide behind Law, hands twisting in the other man's sweater. "If no one is here, how did that door just open?" he squeaked, knees shivering as he peered at the door from behind Law's back.

"Luffy!" Nami called, "Robin, Zoro, Franky- are you guys here!?" Only the echoes of her voice met her calls and she huffed in annoyance.

Law untangled himself from Usopp and made his way up the stairs, ignoring the scaredy cat's protests. Nami and the others followed suit, leaving Usopp no choice but to rush after them or be left alone on the front lawn.

Nami peered around Law's shoulder when she got through the front door and clicked her tongue. "This place isn't lived in, it doesn't even look abandoned. There's nothing here, not even much furniture."

"That's probably because everything that had been here met people like you first," Usopp muttered under his breath causing Law to give a snort of amusement.

"You don't talk about a lady like that, shit-head!" Sanji yelled, throwing out a leg.

Usopp dodged it and went to stand by Law's side. "I wouldn't if there was one here," he said snidely.

Nami chose not to dignify that with a response as she walked further into the house. She stood at the apex of the entryway which was the junction of three halls and a stairwell to the right. Peering straight ahead, she noticed there seemed to be a door that led to another hallway beside the stairwell. "There has to be someone taking care of the house at least. It's spotless, and there are still some things here. I think that's a suit of armour back down the corridor to the left, and there look to be some chests lined up against the wall beside it."

"Maybe it's a show house?" Usopp offered from beside Law's shoulder. He scanned each of the corridors carefully, thinking maybe his sharp eyes would catch something they hadn't. "One of those houses that architects show people who want a house built to show them a basic layout."

Sanji hummed, "I'm not sure, but whatever it is, something feels off about this place," Sanji murmured, he looked over to Usopp and Law and raised an eyebrow at how the Sniper was clinging to the surgeon. Upon catching Sanji's eye, Law rolled his eyes and gently pushed Usopp away.

"It's cold in here," Usopp commented, eyes carefully categorizing everything around them as if looking for something that had changed. "With the architecture being as it is, that's not a surprise." His eyes landed on Nami who was rubbing her arms, goosebumps covering them. He pulled his sweater off and handed it to her, jumping back with a shriek and dropping the item on the floor when the sound of something shattering resounded through the corridor from the right.

Nami quickly scooped up the sweater and pulled it over her head as she looked to the right. She brushed the sleeve of the sweater over her face to get rid of some loose strands of hair, and yelled down the hall, "Luffy, I swear if you are pulling some sort of stupid prank you will regret it!"

An eerie silence met her call.

Sanji turned to Law, watching silently for a moment as the surgeon gave the sniper his coat to put on. "I'll go see what that was," Sanji offered. He met Law's eye, only turning on his heel and leaving when he got the nod of affirmation from Law that he would look after Nami and Usopp.

A little ways down the corridor was a room. It was locked, so Sanji went on his way. There was another door at the very end of the corridor that was slightly ajar, so Sanji decided to check out the room there. He allowed his Haki to flow and tried to sense if there was anything he should be worried about, but he couldn’t sense anything. Just like he hadn’t been able to when they were outside. He didn’t like that, because surely if Luffy and the others were there he would be able to sense them. He turned back and looked down the corridor to where Law, Usopp and Nami stood. They were there and he could hear bits and pieces of their conversation, but he couldn’t detect them with his Haki either. He made a mental note to ask Law and Usopp about it after he checked out what was behind the door.

He opened the door with his foot and peeked in. To the right was a small living room, with three couches, a fireplace and a nice looking creme rug. In the middle of the room was an antique mahogany table set with four seats and place settings, one of the spots missing a plate. To the far left was a kitchen separated from the dining area by a large sterling silver island. The kitchen had cabinets, filled to the brim with silverware, dishes, cups, wine and non-perishables. Along the back wall was another door- although Sanji could not tell if it was to a basement or a backyard from his position.

He walked deeper into the room, intent on checking out the door when something crunched under his foot. He looked down at the pieces of the smashed plate under his wing-tip shoes. He crouched and pulled out a handkerchief before picking up one of the broken pieces and examining it.

It was a regular plate, like one you would find at a run-of-the-mill restaurant. From its position on the floor, it looked as if it were knocked off the table. He stood, a frown adorning his face, and brushed off his pants.

He gave the room a cursory glance, but other than what was in the cabinets, and the three remaining place settings on the table, the rest of the place was barren. He wrapped the shard in his handkerchief to show the others and returned to the hallway, unable to get rid of the niggling feeling at the back of his neck that something was not right.

His frown deepened the closer he got to the front door. He could find neither hide nor hair of his crewmates. Not a sound from them could be heard from the other areas of the house.

He strode past the stairwell, and made a right there, down the corridor. It was a short walk before he was met with another door. He opened it and was met with another corridor, whose walls and floors were covered in dark wood and rich red paint. Up ahead was a room. It was just as void and clean as the kitchen area had been. The closet doors were all wide open, same with the wardrobe, dresser and desk drawers. The only thing he had been able to find was a crumpled up note on the desk. It was a To-Do list of sorts. Written upon the stationary was: _Repair the leaky toilets, refill the first aid kit on the second floor, fix the piano keys._

Sanji flicked the note back down onto the desk and left the room. He tried the door next to the room he had just left, but it was locked, with a deadbolt, he noted. Odd, considering one does not usually use a deadbolt as the main lock for a room. He could get through the lock if he really wanted to, but he had no reason to destroy anything on the property, yet. Despite feeling like he wanted to. He walked back down the corridor, passed the stairwell, before yelling, “Usopp! Nami! Law!” he waited a moment to see if he would get a response, but all he got in return was his own echoed voice.

He sighed in frustration and went to the front door, thinking that perhaps they had gone outside. However, when he went to turn the handle, the door wouldn’t budge. “What the hell?”

He kneeled down and peered at the lock. It wasn’t the normal type of lock one would see on a front door. It was the type that you would lock, or unlock it, from both sides with a key, not just the outside. It had been unlocked when they came in, hadn’t it? Otherwise, the door wouldn’t have opened on its own. None of them had a key to the lock, not unless Luffy and the others found one and locked the door because they didn’t realise anyone had been there. But, something in Sanji’s gut told him that that wasn’t likely.

This could be one of Usopp’s tricks, he can get mischievous at times, but Law was unlikely to play such games. And sweet Nami-swan wasn’t one to play such tricks or tolerate them herself. Sanji straightened and peered through the curtain covering the windows in the door, but it was to no avail because no one was on the front lawn.

Sanji lit another cigarette, feeling a bit aggravated at the turn of events. He stalked down the only other corridor he had yet to be down. The first door he met was locked, so he continued on his way, taking a right and walking down a slightly wider corridor. He approached another door, this one, made of mahogany wood and frosted glass, looked promising.

A shadow, much taller than Law, or even Brook, walked past as he studied the door. Sanji touched the handle but found that it, too, was locked. He locked on the door, certain that whoever was behind it was one of his crew. “Oi!” he called angrily, “Shit-heads, open the damn door!”

Silence was his only reply.

He tried the handle once more, but it was to no avail. He kicked the door, sucking on the end of his cigarette as he turned away from it angrily. As he turned, he noticed a final door at the very end of the corridor. He pressed his hand to the doorknob and sighed in relief when he was able to open it.

He wrinkled his nose at the mouldy smell that attacked his nostrils. Just past the poor was a small bathroom, a guest bathroom with just a toilet, a sink and a dark mahogany cabinet. There was a window, on the left, set high on the wall. It let in the setting sun, and Sanji cursed when he realised that likely meant that they would have to travel back through the woods in the dark. The thought didn’t bother him any, but he knew Nami and Usopp would fail to be amused at the extra danger that travelling late at night in an unknown woods would afford. Luffy and the others were likely back at the ship by now, they must have somehow missed them on their way up to the mansion- how, Sanji would never be able to figure out. There was only one road that led up to the mansion, but nothing was out of the realm of possibility with Luffy and Zoro leading the charge.

Sanji idly glanced around the bathroom, but all there seemed to be was a pathetic blob of a bar of soap on the sink, and a mouldy smelling royal purple rug on the checkered floor. The toilet gurgled, and the sound of water _drip, drip, dripped_ , rhythmically into a small pan under the porcelain bowl. Sanji noted that it looked as if the pan had been emptied recently, which supported Nami’s hypothesis that someone was taking care of the place. He quickly checked the cabinet, noting the first aid kit there, before he gave up and left the bathroom.

He walked back down the corridor and turned down the hall to the stairwell. Having seen everything on the first floor, he decided that it was time to check out the second floor. As he mounted the staircase, he muttered and cursed. He was going to positively kill Usopp and the others when he got his hands on them. Usopp and Nami-swan, as sweet as she was, could get distracted easily given the right environment, but he had expected so much more from Law- he should have waited for him.

The first door he met when he ascended the stairs, stood to the lift of the stairwell. When he tried it, the door was unlocked and led to a bedroom. Inside stood a single bed off to the right, with bookshelves and a desk on the far wall opposite it. On the left was a comfortable looking double sofa, which sat atop a blue rug. On the wall furthest from the couch was a wardrobe. Unlike the bedroom downstairs, the drawers and doors to this one were closed. He glanced around, his eyes suddenly stopping when he saw something shine dully under the bed. He kneeled and carefully pulled out what was there.

It was Law’s sword.

His eyes widened, and he quickly dropped the sword. He pulled out another handkerchief and grabbed the sword with it, not wanting to directly touch it. If Law’s sword was as cursed as Zoro’s, and it likely was, he didn’t want to chance it trying to possess him. He carefully held the sword in front of him, before giving the room another quick glance before leaving the room.

He went down the corridor to the only other door on that side and opened it. Law’s sword still being held uncomfortably in front of him.

The room he entered was another bedroom, with a bed on the right, a desk and multiple bookshelves on the back wall. A rug stood in the middle of the room, charcoal in colour. On the left side of the room, there was a curtain drawn covering what looked to be a closet of some sort.

He got a tingling feeling at the back of his neck looking at the curtain, and decided that there was as good a spot as any to look Gently, he placed Law’s sword beside the curtain and pulled it open. He froze, his blood running cold at the sight before him.

Law was sat at the bottom of a staircase, which looked to lead up to an attic of some sort. He was clutching his chest and breathing heavily through his nose. His entire body was shaking as if he had been left out in the cold.

“Law! What the hell happened to you!?” Sanji exclaimed, his lit cigarette falling from his mouth. He cursed, and quickly put the butt out with his foot.

Law didn’t respond to him. He looked to be having a lot of trouble breathing. It didn’t seem as if he were able to catch his breath.. Sanji’s eyebrows knitted with concern, he wasn’t certain he had heard him at all. He crouched to eye level and said again.

“Law, it’s Sanji. Are you okay? Can you hear me?”

Law blinked his eyes and nodded, licking his lips. He was still having trouble breathing, and each breath he took caused his body to shake so roughly that the stairwell was shaking. Sanji sighed, scratching his neck as he tried to think about what he did when Usopp got like that.

“Law, you need to sit up. Breathe with me- in, two, three, four, out, two, three, four.” Law swallowed and sat up straighter. He closed his eyes, concentrating on matching his breathing to Sanji’s own.

Eventually, his breathing slowed. Shakily, he wiped his face on the sleeve of his shirt, then exhaled sharply.

“I don’t know what happened.” Law admitted tiredly, leaning his head back against the wall. Sanji dug out a small water bottle from his pack and handed it over to Law, who took it gratefully. Suddenly, he was thankful he packed food and water before their trip to find the others.

Sanji nodded, shifting his body so that he could sit cross-legged at the bottom of the stairwell. “How did you get in here? Where are Nami and Usopp?”

Law frowned, “I’m not sure. Nami went upstairs ahead of me and disappeared. She said she was going to look for treasure. I don’t know what happened to Usopp, we didn’t go the same way. When I got up the stairs Nami dragged me with her. Something happened and I escaped in here and shut the door.”

“Why did you hide in here?” It wasn’t like Law to hide from… anything. He had about as much self-preservation as Luffy did. Even without his sword, his powers made him a practically unbeatable adversary.

“Something attacked us,” Law looked past him into the bedroom and swallowed. “Something large. I didn’t see much, it had happened too fast. But it wasn’t human.”

Sanji looked over his shoulder, noting that he had accidentally left the door to the bedroom open.

“Here,” Law slipped his hand into his pocket and retrieved a key, handing it over to Sanji. “I found this here when I sat down. Maybe you can use it. Find Nami and Usopp, I can’t go. It wouldn’t be smart for me to walk yet.”

Sanji nodded, studying the key in his hand. The label on the key was marked _Library - G. Fl._ Slowly, he stood, shoving the key into his coat pocket. “I’ll go look for them, but make sure you stay here. It wouldn’t be good for us to lose track of each other again. I’ll come back to get you in a bit.”

Law shivered, although there was no chill to be felt, and nodded his head.

“Don’t move,” Sanji said firmly. He did not need to go looking for this shit-head on top of Usopp and Nami. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He left another bottle of water and some food with Law, before he shut the curtain and the bedroom door as he left the room.

Sanij decided that he would start on the first floor because that was where the key stated the Library was- and that was as good a place as any. Both Nami and Usopp had a penchant for getting lost in bookstores and any place where they might be with books was always a good bet.

Feeling whimsical, he decided to check the front door and tapped the handle, but it didn’t budge. He let out a puff of annoyance before he went down the corridor that led to the kitchen. He stopped in front of the locked door in the middle of the corridor. On it was a plaque that said _Library_ on it, not unlike the one on the door leading to the Library at his old home on Germa Kingdom.

He grinned, the key slipping right into the doorknob’s lock. He found himself inside the Library a few seconds later. He pocketed the key and looked up just in time to see a tall grey-skinned figure disappear behind the middle row of bookshelves.

Sanji sucked in a breath and froze. He tried to suppress the anxious cough rising in his lungs, and swallow against the tightening in his throat. He made sure to catch the door to keep it from slamming shut. Whatever, or whoever, was there, he did not feel like alerting it to his presence just yet. He tried to think back to what Robin, Luffy, Franky and Zoro had been wearing the evening before, but neither had been wearing grey and whatever that had been wandering around the room was much taller than any of them in any case. Surely he was hallucinating.

The Library had the old book smell that many tended to have, and it was much colder than the rest of the rooms that he had visited so far. There were no windows in the room, and what little light there was came from the chandelier in the middle of the room.

From what Sanji could sense, there was no further movement in the room, and he suddenly felt stupid for his earlier cowardliness. He wasn’t Usopp, after all! He made his way over to the table at the front of the room, to the right. Papers and books were scattered across the mahogany surface, and he took the time to look over the things there.

There were several leather-bound journals, half-filled with notes. Underneath the stack of journals was another key, very much like the one Sanji had in his pocket. He pulled the key out of his pocket to compare before he quickly lept back from the table. The move was purely instinctual, and it wasn’t the first time that Sanji was thankful that he had grown up with Zeff and learned to act on his feet.

A massive fist slammed into the wood where he had been, causing the journals and key to go flying across the floor.

“ _Flambage Shot!_ ” Sanji quickly ignited his leg and jumped out of the way as the monster attacked him. He flipped into the air and landed a kick to its chest. The monster skidded back a few paces, giving Sanji the room he needed to escape. He pushed down on the door handle, only for it to click against the lock. He glanced at the knob and cursed. The damned thing had a lock on that side of the door as well. “What the fuck is wrong with this house,” he hissed.

Sanji spun around, just in time to catch the next attack with his leg. He was thrown back, the force enough to crack the floorboards as he slid across them. He could feel the attack resonate through his bones and make his teeth click. The monster jerked its fist back from the flames of Sanji’s leg and stalked back into the rows of bookcases.

Sanji stood, flabbergasted. Not only did his attacks not seem to do anything to the monster, the damned thing got bored with him and left! The gall of that… thing! Sanji shook his head and went back to the table to look for the keys that had been thrown to the floor during the attack. He found them by the bookshelf behind the table and snatched them up. He quickly made his way back to the door and forced the key into the lock, turning it with a successful _click!_ The door opened and Sanji pulled the key from its confines.

He signed in relief once he was in the hallway, it was much warmer than the Library had been, and much less creepy. He could see why Law would have run away from that thing, it was no joke and nothing you attacked it with seemed to bother it at all. He backed away from the door, and eyed it for a few moments, expecting the monster to crash through it, like Kool-Aid Man, at any moment.

But nothing happened.

Sanji closed his eyes and shook himself. He could use another cigarette, but he was down to his last three and needed for them to last. He studied the door for a moment before walking up to it and opening it again. He peeked his head inside, the door propped against his shoulder as he studied the room. He allowed himself to gain his bearings and tried to sense any danger. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t sense anything. The room did feel different somehow, but why, he couldn’t put his finger on.

He began to search the Library, checking every single aisle for any sign that the monster that had attacked him was still in the room. He found nothing. In fact, there was no sign that anything else had been in the room with him at all.

Sanji studied the books on the shelves, but nothing there caught his interest. Everything seemed to be more down Robin’s alley, mostly historical and occult books. He made a note to come back later, but he needed to get a move on if he planned on finding Usopp and Nami any time soon.

He locked the door behind him and checked his pockets for the two keys, pulling them both out. The new key was almost identical to the one Law had given him. The tag had _4 Fl_ written across it.

Taking that as a sign of where he should go next, he started to make his way to the fourth floor, checking the doors of the second and third floors as he went, but he found that no doors, other than the ones that he already knew about on the second floor, were open.

He exited the stairwell on the fourth floor and walked down the corridor passed another stairwell. Beside the stairwell was another room. He used the key on the door and to his relief, the door opened.

The room looked to be a study of sorts. There was a desk and chair to the far left wall. A very old antique chair sat at the back wall along with another bookcase. The bookcase was pushed away from the wall on one side, as if something were behind it, not allowing it to lie flush against the wall.

Sanji tried to get a sense of the room before he entered, but like with every other place in the house, he felt nothing. He did, however, get a feeling that he should check out the bookcase, and so he went with his gut. He pulled the bookcase out more and looked behind it, eyebrows disappearing behind his bangs. Behind the bookshelf, jammed into a hole in the wall, was a den den mushi. Sanji crouched and lightly touched it.

“Are you okay?” he asked, not sure exactly what type of response he would get from the responder snail.

The den den mushi moved its head away from his hand and went to retreat inside its shell.

“Are you hiding?” he inquired.

The snail slid its head out of the shell and gave him a bored look. He sighed. Den den mushi were not his speciality. That ability lies solely with Usopp and Franky, but maybe Law could do something. Sanji thoughtfully touched the edge of the hole, trying to figure out what had made it. He hummed, if nothing else was discovered, he now knew that the den den mushi had gotten there somehow. Perhaps the hole was something that could be turned into a way out if they got desperate.

Sanji stood, “I need to keep looking from my crewmates. Would you like me to put the bookcase back?”

The den den mushi went back in its shell which Sanji took as a ‘yes’. He put the bookshelf back and left the room, pausing in front of the door. He shrugged and decided to lock the door. Maybe it would keep the monster from attacking the den den mushi.

He walked passed the stairs and down the corridor, stopping when he saw the entrance to another room. Feeling lucky, he tried the key in his hand. He felt a tug of smugness when the key clicked and the door opened, revealing the room to him. It was another bedroom, _just how many did this damn place have?_ It held two beds, three couches surrounding a coffee table, a wardrobe on the far wall and something that looked like a fuse box. Sanji decided it best not to go by the fuse box, that was something he trusted only to Usopp and Franky. He had enough electricity on Skypiea to last a lifetime. Between the two beds was a hole on the floor, probably one of the first signs that Sanji saw pointing to the place not being as closely cared for as they all previously thought. No one taking care of a house would leave an open hole in the flooring after all.

On the coffee table was a torn piece of paper with two coloured blocks drawn on it- one green and one blue.

He abandoned the note on the table and looked around for the other half of the paper, but it had been an exercise in futility.

Figuring that there was nothing else he could find at this point and that he had kept Law alone for long enough, he returned to the second floor.

When he arrived at the bedroom housing Law, Sanji stopped at the door. The closet, which had been previously covered by a curtain when he left the room, had now been replaced by a metal door. Behind the door came a whirring sound, not unlike the sounds that come from some of Usopp’s newfangled tools. Unsure about just how much more mindfuckery he could take for the evening, he carefully approached the door. “Law?” he called with uncertainty.

A whirring sound stopped from inside, “Sanji?”

“Yeah,” he stuffed his hands into his pockets and watched the door uneasily. “Can you come out here?”

“Were you able to find Nami and Usopp?”

“Not yet. I did find a den den Mushi upstairs stuck inside one of the walls. It seemed more annoyed that I was there than anything else.” Sanji didn’t bother to mention that he was attacked by the monster, he didn’t want to cause more panic than was already there. Not yet anyway.

“Hmm,” Law grunted, and something whirred briefly again from behind the door. “Can you keep looking for them without me? We should try to get out of here as soon as possible.”

Sanji raised an eyebrow, irritation flooding through him. “What the hell are you talking about? I just came back from looking for them.”

“I’m not… ready,” Law stated. “I’ve lost my sword and my devil fruit doesn’t work well when I am weak.”

Sanji began to protest but wound up snapping his jaw shut. With the monster’s speed and indifference to his attacks, it wouldn’t do good to have Law walking around without at least his powers in full working order. Sanji looked down, his eye-catching on the sword against the wall. He couldn’t do a thing about Law’s powers, Law’s sword, however, he could help with.

“Your sword was in the bedroom at the end of the corridor. Here,” the door gaped open just wide enough for Sanji to slide the sword through. “I could use your help finding the others, I’ve had no luck.”

“I’m still feeling weak, I’ll be no use in this state.” Law implored, impatience colouring his tone. “I’ll join you in a bit, can you please just check again?”

Sanji huffed in annoyance, “I’ll be back.” As he stalked from the room the whirring behind the door started up again. It sounded exactly like one of Usopp’s drills, in fact, he was positive that it was. No one else had tools like their Sniper did, he made them himself after all. Which begs the question, what the hell was Law doing with one of Usopp’s tools, and what was he hiding? Why?

_To Be Continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings:
> 
> Brief episodes of breathing difficulty.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> I hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you think of the art in the middle of the story- should it stay, or be put at the end. I look forward to posting again for you guys soon!
> 
> Chandlure


	2. Something is not Right

_The House on the Hill_

* * *

**Chapter Two  
**

* * *

Irritated, Sanji stomped his way back downstairs to the annexe, muttering under his breath as he went. If he was going to go searching through the entire fucking mansion alone, _again,_ then he might as well start from the bottom and work his way back up. He first went to the Kitchen and then the Library, upon finding nothing, he walked past the front door to the other side of the corridor.

Sanji walked down the long corridor, pausing when he turned the corner. He blinked a couple of times to make sure he was seeing it right. The frosted glass door against the far wall, which had definitely been locked the last time he had been down this corridor, was now ajar. 

He cautiously approached the door, trying to sense if there was anything behind the door or inside the room. It was pitch black behind the door and he didn’t fancy any surprises. He didn’t sense anything, but what he was beginning to learn was that, in this house, him not sensing anything didn’t necessarily mean nothing was there. Sanji stood still and listened, straining his ears to hear something, anything, that might clue him on whether something was behind the door or not. But only deathly silence met his ears.

The cook wondered briefly who had been inside earlier, as it definitely hadn’t been Law, and the others were way too small from what he saw. He flirted with the idea that it could have been Robin, however, he dismissed that thought almost immediately having not seen any sign of the others since they arrived at the mansion.

Sanji swirled his foot around, bringing forth flames - just in case, and walked towards the doorway. He could see a lightswitch illuminated by the flames on his leg, just out of reach. He slowly took a step into the room and turned the light on.

“ _Shit!_ ” Something had come from behind the door and ran into him, slamming his body into the wall behind him. The wall caved in from the pressure of his body, plaster raining on him, falling into his hair, eyes and mouth. Sanji rubbed his face with his sleeve as he turned, putting just enough space between him and his assailant to slide a leg between them and land a kick into the thing’s stomach. Whatever had attacked him, let him go, and suddenly, the room was plunged back into the darkness. 

Sanji’s blood pounded in his ears as he panted and tried to force his eyes to focus on the room around him. It was to no avail, a combination of the darkness and dizziness, from hitting his head against the wall during the attack, making it impossible for him to see anything. He staggered and fell back against the wall, knocking the light switch back on.

He frantically looked around the empty room, his eyes seeing double and refusing to focus. He tightly closed his eyes, fists pressing against them as he leaned his head back against the wall. He grimaced as plaster once again fell into his hair and over his face. 

He rolled his shoulders, wincing in pain. Gingerly, the cook touched the shoulder where the pain had radiated from and noticed it was sticky and wet. He sighed, recognizing the smell of blood before he even saw the red substance covering his fingers. Great, he was bleeding. Pretty badly from the feel of it. 

Sanji breathed in deeply and reopened his eyes, sighing in relief when nothing moved and everything looked clearer. He looked around for something to stop the bleeding, but all he could find was a damp towel on the floor. It had been knocked down when the towel rack was broken from the wall in the attack. He was hesitant to use it, for obvious reasons. He had no idea where it had been or who had used it previously, and, it was covered in dusty plaster.

He pressed his hand over the wound to help ebb the flow. He didn’t think it would keep bleeding for much longer, and he would get Law or Chopper to tend to it the next time he met up with one of them.

The blonde studied the rest of the room. It was a bathroom- in the literal sense of the word. There was a tub with a shower attacked, a washbin and a mirror over a mahogany cabinet. There was no toilet. The floor was wet, and Sanji would see the wet footprints of whoever had been in there previously. He shakily straightened began to look around, searching for any clue that the room might hold. A cologne bottle, necklace, a sock even.

None of those things were present, but there was a key on top of the sink in place of a bar of soap. The tag on the key read _2 fl. Bedroom._

The room lacked all signs of what had attacked him, not even a footprint from the puddle by the shower, but if Sanji had to wager a guess, he would say it was the grey monster. With a sigh, Sanji turned to leave the room, when he froze, eyes widening in shock.

The wall he had been thrown into earlier was no longer in pieces. It was completely repaired, with not a thing out of place. The towel rack was back where it had been previously, and even the towel, which had been on the floor covered in plaster, was hanging across it. Still damp, but otherwise clean. In fact, the only proof that he was attacked was his shoulder injury, not even his blood marred the wall.

Sanji cursed under his breath and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it. This was definitely a time to smoke. He looked at the key in his hand. There was no way he could figure out what the fuck happened, but he could go to the second floor and see which bedroom this key went to. Both of the rooms he had previously been in on the second-floor had been bedrooms- how many more could possibly be on one floor!? _Shitty mansions and their stupid bedrooms._

He made his way back up the stairs, making a left and going down the corridor by the stairs that led to the front of the house. He tried the room on the far left, but, although the key fit into the lock, it wouldn’t open. That meant the key had to fit one of the other three doors on the floor. He went to the door on the far right of the corridor and tried the lock there, smirking when it made the telltale _click!_ of the lock tripping. 

Upon entering he checked the lock to make sure that it wouldn’t lock behind him, it wouldn’t, as it was a turn-lock that only locked from the inside. He closed the door firmly and flipped the lock, not wanting the monster to sneak up behind him. 

He turned and scanned the room. It appeared to be empty, and he certainly couldn’t sense any danger. There was _something familiar_ that he could feel in the room, but it was too faint for him to put his finger on. The room had two beds on the far wall, with a small bedside table between them that held a lamp and a notepad. There was a dresser against the wall by the door, a wardrobe and three windows that lined the right wall. The windows had curtains tightly shut over them. Something was off.

Sanji walked up to them and merely studied the curtains for a moment. All of the other windows in the house weren’t covered with curtains, so why were these? He reached out to open them, but paused just short of it, changing his mind. Who cared if the curtains were closed? Them being open wasn’t going to help him find anyone. He turned his heel to check out the wardrobe when the curtains suddenly burst open. 

Something with long orange hair leapt out at him shouting, “ _Gust Sword!”_ the stick in their hand pointing it straight at his chest. Sanji jerked to the left, the sharp gust missing him by mere millimetres. It slammed into the far wall, leaving behind a huge crater. 

“Sanji! I am so sorry, I didn’t realize it was you!” Nami put her climatact away and hugged Sanji tightly, ignoring the blood coming out of his nose. “I heard the door open and I thought that thing had come back for me!”

“Just me, my dear Nami-swan,” Sanji brushed himself off, stealthily wiping away the blood dripping down his face. He took a deep breath, commanding his heart to slow in his chest. “What did you think was coming back for you?”

“That grey monster! You’ve run into it, I can see something hurt you.” She moved to touch his shoulder but paused at his wince. “Is that why you disappeared on us?”

Sanji leaned his head up and blew the smoke in his mouth towards the ceiling, “I went to the kitchen to see what broke,” his eyebrows furrowed. “Don’t you remember?”

Nami hummed, crossing her arms. “Maybe? I’m not really sure, what happened with all the confusion. That monster suddenly rushed at us from the left side of the house, must’ve turned the corner when we weren’t looking. Anyway, Usopp ran ahead of us up the stairs, screaming his head off, and I and Law ran off after him. Usopp and Law disappeared, so I ran into the first open door and hid.”

“I saw Law a while ago, he seemed fine,” Sanji commented, taking a drag from his cigarette. “I’ve not seen Usopp.”

“Of course, not. If Usopp doesn’t want to be found he-,” Nami stopped what she was saying and stared at the door with wide eyes. “Sanji, did you lock the door?”

The doorknob jiggled, stopped for a moment, and started jiggling again. Sanji stared, wide-eyed. 

Nami pulled her Climatact out of its holder as Sanji began to swirl his leg around, feeling the flames begin to lick up his leg. 

The doorknob stopped jiggling and that was when Sanji cautiously began to make his way towards the door. He held up a hand to stop Nami from following him, wanting her to keep a distance in case whatever was on the other side of the door attacked. 

He shakily turned the lock and stepped back, waiting to see if that would cause whatever was on the other side to open the door. After a moment of silence, he quickly threw open the door and put himself in the doorway. He cursed and jumped to the right, just missing the grey fist that slammed through the floor just outside the door. Nami squealed and moved further back into the room, the back of her knees touching the bed. She held her climatact firmly in front of her, eyes trained on Sanji. 

Sanji immediately attacked, “ _Parage Shot!”_ He aimed a kick at the monster’s chest, turning it around. Nami pointed her Climatact at the monster’s back, “ _Gust Sword!”_ the attack hit the monster head-on, forcing it to stumble forward. She leaned down next to Sanji’s flaming leg and whispered, “ _fog tempo!”_ Fog suddenly filled the corridor, covering them completely. 

Nami rushed past him, grabbed his sleeve and pulled him down the corridor. “Let’s get out of here before it can see again.” Sanji didn’t stop to see what condition the monster was in, and followed Nami to the stairs, down them and to the Library. She ripped the door opened, holding it open just enough for Sanji to get through before slamming it shut Sanji fumbled with the keys in his jacket until he found the right one, shoving it into the lock and turned, feeling relief when the lock _clicked!_ into place, securing them inside.

Sanji sighed and pulled up a shaky hand to pull the cigarette from his mouth, “ _damnit, I dropped my cigarette.”_

Nami raised an eyebrow, Sanji’s cigarette between her lips. She pulled it out and blew smoke in his face to catch his attention. “Nami-swan, that was some quick thinking on your part.” He gratefully took the cigarette from her and inhaled deeply, allowing the gesture to relax his muscles.

Nami laughed, “I just followed my instincts.” 

“Good instincts,” Sanji muttered, pushing off the wall and moving to unlock the Library door. “We should go check on Law. He wasn’t doing too well the last time I saw him and his door doesn’t lock.” Sanji chose not to mention that he suspects that Law was up to something. 

Nami nodded and followed Sanji back up the stairs, straining her ears to hear for the monster. She didn’t trust that the thing suddenly disappeared, and could feel her heart pumping faster the closer they got to the second floor. 

Sanji opened the door and allowed Nami into the room. “What the hell is that metal door?” The silence in the room was permeated with the sound of banging from behind the door.

Sanji looked over her shoulder as he closed the door. “Something Law had found earlier. It’s weird,” he stopped to look at the door. “When I first saw him in here it was just a curtain covering a stairwell, but the second time I came in, there was a metal door blocking the stairwell.”

“Where on earth would he have gotten a metal door from?” Nami asked incredulously, walking over to it and leaning over to study it. It looks like the one on Usopp’s factory.”

Sanji shrugged, “in the state he seemed to be in, I doubt he could even tell us. Not clearly, in any case. If I had to actually wager a guess, I would say from wherever the stairs behind the door led, but I can’t be sure.”

Nami reached up and knocked on the door, “Law, open up! It’s Nami and Sanji.” 

The silence behind the door ended. They waited with bated breath as footsteps hurried down the stairs and the door swung open. Had Sanji not pulled Nami back, she would have gotten hit in the face. “Where’s Usopp? He isn’t with you‽”

Sanji shrugged and shook his head, “I haven’t seen him yet. I’m sure he is just hiding someplace.”

Nami wrapped her arms around herself, Usopp’s sweater still on her. She pressed her face into the neck of it. “He might have fallen asleep where he was hiding. He’s been exhausted lately.”

Sanji scoffed, “that scaredy-cat wouldn’t fall asleep here.” Sanji bit his tongue, about to admit that he doubted even he could fall asleep in the damned mansion, no matter how exhausted he was.

“We need to go look for him,” Law said, his eyes flickering with urgency

“I agree,” Sanji nodded, “and we can go check the den den mushi stuck in the wall upstairs. Maybe one of you can get it out.”

Nami turned, eyes narrowed, “there’s a den den mushi here?”

“Yeah.”

“Stuck in a wall?” 

Sanji shrugged, “I don’t know how it got there, but seemed annoyed that I bothered it.”

Nami hummed, watching Law as he went back behind the door. “We might be able to contact the ships from it.” 

The metal door locked behind Law, and he secured his sword to his belt. “Let’s go,” he led the group from the room without preamble, anxious to get upstairs. He stalked up the stairs to the third floor and then the fourth. Sanji bit his tongue, not bothering to ask how Law knew where they were going. Sanji reopened the door with the key in his pocket and let them in, motioning towards the bookcase for Law. The den den mushi growled, hiding so far in its shell that it only its antennae could be seen.

Law touched the wall by the den den mushi’s shell, crouching to its level. “It’s nervous with all the people here. Why don’t you guys go check out the other room?” he suggested, “I’ll see what I can do here.”

Sanji nodded, escorting Nami out. He led her to the other room across the stairwell, where Nami was automatically drawn to the bookcase and desk. Sanji decided to check out the beds, as he hadn’t bothered the first time. He leaned down and ran his fingers over the bedspread, before picking up his hand and looking at it. The bedspread felt clean, and no dust came up on his fingers. Someone was keeping the house clean. He had yet to see a speck of dust in the entire place. It was almost _too clean_ , in fact. 

Despite the fact that the air in the house was stale and tasted of dust, nothing looked that way. Nothing looked aged or weathered at all.

There was a _click!_ and the bed began to slide up and away from Sanji. He tumbled, unable to keep his balance from the sudden loss of ground under him. He fell, trying to grab the edge of the hole as he did so. He caught it for a moment before the excruciating pain in his injured shoulder caused him to suddenly let go. He landed hard on the floor below, a leg twisted under his body.

Nami’s head peeked from over the hole, “Sanji! I’m so sorry, are you okay‽”

Sanji moved to his knees and rolled his shoulder. He would be feeling that for a few days. “I’m fine. What happened?” He called back.

“There was a lever on the wall. When I pushed it the first time, a key popped out. When I did it again, it moved the bed.” Nami studied him with wide eyes as he winced with every movement, “are you sure you are okay?”

Sanji gave her, what he hoped, was a reassuring smile, “of course, Nami-swan.”

Sanji pulled himself to his feet, wincing at the pain in his knee as he leaned on it, looking around the room. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about the room at all. “There doesn’t look like there is anything much in this room, but it has a door.”

“Should I come dow- what ‽” Nami turned away from the hole, suddenly alert. “Sanji, I’ll be right back.”

Nami stood and vanished without another word. “Be careful, Nami-swan!” Sanji sighed and began to limp to the door. 

He stopped for a moment at the windows and took a peek outside, shocked at how dark it looked outside. The clouds seemed to cover whatever light the moon was producing. 

He sighed and turned back towards the door, taking a moment to look at the room. It was… white. Really white. Everything was white- the curtains, bed, rug, floors, walls, ceiling fan, desk, bookcase. Even most of the books on the bookcase were white. He felt unnerved, it felt like he was in one of those mental hospitals described in Robin’s books. 

He limped to the door and opened it, stopping and holding his breath when he heard a door closing at the other side of the corridor. 

He frowned, the hair on the back of his neck standing up as he slowly began to walk towards the door. He could sense something there, but again, while it felt familiar, he couldn’t place his finger on it. 

Sanji turned the knob and it opened under his ministrations, revealing what looked to be a second Library to him. Had Nami come down and lockpicked the door thinking he was in there? He peered inside, “Nami-swan?” He caught sight of a person on the left side of the door. No, not Nami. Usopp.

“Usopp!” 

Usopp jumped three feet into the air and frantically turned around, his knees shaking as he held up his Kabuto. He let out a shaky breath and slowly put down his weapon when he saw it was only Sanji. “Sanji!”

“Where the fuck have you been, Shit-head!?” Sanji crossed his arms to glare at the sniper after slamming the door shut behind him. “I’ve been looking for you for hours!” 

“I’ve been looking for you guys!” Usopp pulled his long hair out of his face and put it in a bun. “This house is _huge_. You need a map to get around here, I kept getting lost.” Usopp knelt and slipped a blue leather book into the bookbag by his feet before closing it. “Where were you? Have you seen anyone else?”

“Nami-swan and I got Law from the second floor and went upstairs. There is a den den mushi stuck in a wall I wanted them to look at.” Sanji leaned against the bookcase to his right to get the weight off his knee. “What the hell happened to you? Nami-swan told me you got separated from them.”

Usopp took a deep breath and gave an awkward laugh, “you know. The monster came out of n-n-n-nowhere; it really s-s-surprised us. We all ran, but it wound up ch-ch-chasing me, so I ran up the stairs. By the t-time I got upstairs, th-they were b-both g-g-g-gone. Nami screamed, y-you didn’t h-h-hear h-her?” 

Sanji sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Something about Usopp’s story didn’t sit right. He would have heard her scream, the kitchen wasn’t too far from the annexe and the corridors echoed like crazy. And Usopp only stuttered that badly when he was hiding something. But why would Usopp lie to him now? “I didn’t hear anything,” he said after a moment of silence passed between them.

“T-That’s o-odd!” Usopp hiked his backpack onto his shoulder and shifted it to reach into the front pocket. “You should drink some water, you look exhausted.”

Sanji raised an eyebrow but accepted the bottle from him. Just as he expected, as soon as Usopp was done lying his stuttering stopped. He took a quick drink before handing it back to Usopp. “We should go back upstairs, Law will be relieved we found you. He was worried I didn’t earlier.” 

Usopp nodded, “yeah! I’d be interested in seeing that den den mushi as well!” He put his book bag on his back and started towards the door. 

Sanji followed him to the door, eyeing him wearily. He looked… calm, almost too calm. Especially for Usopp. He made a mental note to ask Law and Nami about it later but assumed that it had something to do with the fact that, other than his first meeting with the monster, nothing had been after him. 

As they ascended the stairs, a thought occurred to Sanji. “Oi.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you have your tools on you?”

Usopp stopped halfway up the stairs and raised an eyebrow at him, “my tools? Which ones? I might have some with me.”

“Did you bring that drill of yours, the one that moves?”

“Er-” The rest of Usopp’s sentence was drowned out when he opened the door and Law yelled, “Usopp, take Nami and get out!” Law had his sword pulled out and was standing in front of Nami who had her climatact. “What are you waiting for? _Go!”_ He commanded, almost snarling the command. 

“W-w-what’s g-g-going on!?” Usopp pulled Nami to his chest, allowing Sanji to jump in front of them, his leg already igniting. Sanji took note of the stuttering for a later time. Something really wasn’t right with Usopp. 

The monster was in the room, crouched between Law and Nami, Usopp and Sanji. Nami was breathing heavily and there was a nasty bruise on her neck. She had her Climatact trained on the monster, eyeing it above Sanji’s shoulder from her spot against Usopp’s chest. Law was breathing heavily and seemed extremely weary.

“Usopp, take Nami-swan and get out of here!” Sanji growled, jumping high and landing a kick to the monster’s forehead. 

The monster slowly turned towards them after the hit, standing up to its full height. It hadn’t actually attacked them since they entered the room. In fact, other than standing up after the kick Sanji landed, _which seemed to do NOTHING_ , it hadn’t moved at all. It was almost as if it were waiting for something. 

Sanji studied the monster, his throat feeling tight. While he had seen it multiple times already, he hadn’t been able to study it. Now that he could, he saw that its shape looked familiar, like he saw it somewhere before- one of Robin’s books, or Usopp’s sketches, perhaps? It had a tall thin body, it’s skin a ghastly grey, much much too small for its head. The monster’s eyes took up most of its face and were as black as the inky sky outside. 

He was broken out of his reverie by movement behind him, he looked to see that Usopp had pulled out his weapon, and moved to stand next to Nami, his eyes trained on the monster as well.

 _“_ _Kaen Dama!”_

“ _Fog Tempo!”_

Sanji took the distraction to throw himself at the monster. Nami slide to the side to avoid him with her next attack. In the confusion, they were able to corner it. It was then, while cornered that it attacked, slashing at Sanji, catching him on the side and causing him to skid across the floor. His leg gave out from under him and Sanji went down, tumbling across the floor. Law slashed the creature under its arm, causing it to give an inhuman screech. Sanji used the distraction to do a swing-kick from his position at the same time Law attacked it from the other side.

“ _Radio Knife!”_ The monster snarled and slapped Nami into the wall in its distaste. However, other than being annoyed, it didn’t look like Law’s attack did anything to it. 

_“Radio Knife!”_ he tried again, and suddenly, the monster vanished. 

“I told you it would work fine!” Usopp said happily. “You hit it perfectly!”

Sanji threw him a confused look from the floor. _What.The.Fuck?_

"Is everyone okay?" Law asked, sheathing his sword. He looked each of them over from where he stood but seemed to deem them fine, because he merely sat down at the desk, his back against the wall and one leg folded over the other as he looked around the room. 

Usopp was sat in the middle of the room, on the rug, pulling out and counting his ammunition. There was a frown evident on his face as he counted and recounted his inventory.

Sanji winced, slowly seating himself in the red chair at the back of the room. Nami went to sit crosslegged at his feet, examining her weapon. Law was doing the same with his sword. “Did you find anything?” she called over to Law, who shook his head. “Me neither.” She slipped her climatact into the front of Usopp’s sweatshirt and sighed. 

Nami leaned her chin on her knee, playing with the strap of her sandals. “I thought I heard something earlier, and when I got here the Monster was already attacking Law. I was so glad when you showed up.” She blinked up at him, her eyes widening. “Oh, that reminds me. This is for you.” Sanji peered down at her, confused. What did Nami-swan have to give him? He opened his hand and took what she handed him. It was another key. It wasn’t quite like the others, more smooth and didn’t have nearly as many teeth on it than the others in his pocket. He checked the tag, _2nd fl._

He tucked it away in his pocket and offered her a smile, “Nami-swan is the best! This will be very helpful!” Nami smiled at him, hiding a yawn behind the sleeve of Usopp’s shirt. “Are you feeling okay, Nami-swan?”

She nodded, leaning her forehead against his thigh, “just exhausted. It’s been a long day.”

Sanji hummed, looking over to where Law and Usopp were talking on the other side of the room. “Do you think Law is okay?”

Nami looked over at the two men. “I think he’s worried,” she said after a moment. “From the looks of it, his powers don’t really work well here, and Usopp was gone for a really long time without any of us seeing him.” Sanji nodded, he had noticed that Law’s powers didn’t have the usual effect they normally did. “He’s also exhausted, we all are. We’ve been here almost 12 hours already.”

Sanji glanced out the windows and all he could see was his own exhausted reflection staring back at him. Everything beyond the window was utter darkness. “I could do with the rest,” he admitted, despite really not wanting to sleep there. He needed to heal and they weren’t going to get out of the mansion that evening by the looks of it. 

Nami nodded, “I saw your leg give out on you. Rest might be best.”

“We would need a room that locks though, so it can’t sneak up on us. We can do what we do on the ship and have watch shifts.”

Nami stood, and stretched. “I’ll let the boys know. Can you look around and see if there is anything else useful in here?”

Sanji pulled himself up from the chair, wincing in pain as he put weight on his knee. He hoped the rest would allow it to heal some and he wouldn’t be in as much pain when he woke. He tended to be a very quick healer. He would have Law look at it once they’ve settled in a room.

Sanji searched through all the nooks and crannies of the room while Nami spoke to the others. He found a closet opposite the den den mushi and opened it. Inside was a wooden box with something inside. He tried to open the lid, but it was locked. He carried it to the group as Law helped Usopp to his feet. 

“All I found was this box,” he handed the box over to Usopp for examination. “You need a key for it though.”

“I’ll take a look at it later. Between me and Usopp, we should be able to get it open.” Nami said, taking the box from Usopp and putting it in his backpack for him. “Let’s go.”

“We should check all the rooms we have keys to, to find the one that seems the safest.” law suggested, allowing Usopp to lead the way out of the room.

They all agreed. They made their way to the second floor and looked through the rooms. One room had matches, and there was a first aid kit in another one (the same one mentioned on the note he found earlier?). They settled on the bedroom that had a fireplace and the tools to build a fire. The house was much colder in the evening without the suns warmth to help bake it. Nami went to the windows and closed the windows tightly while Usopp started on the fire. Law sat at the desk and began to root through the first aid kit, making note of what they had. It really did help to have a doctor with them, Sanji mused. 

Sanji pulled off his blazer and then his buttondown, eyeing the blood that soaked through his light blue shirt. Not even the best dry cleaner in the world would be able to get the mess out of the shirt. He glanced at his arm, scrunching up his nose. Dried blood covered his arm and his back. Blood was smeared over his undershirt, across his ribs and stomach. He sighed, throwing the button down on the floor before cursing. He had gotten blood on his good pants!

Usopp looked over his shoulder to where Sanji was, “you okay?”

Sanji crossed his arms and scowled, “my clothes are covered in blood. I didn’t bring anything else with me.”

Usopp hummed before his eyes brightened, “I think I have some clothes with me in my bag.”

Sanji narrowed his eyes, _why on earth?..._ “I would appreciate it,” he said instead, swallowing his suspicion. Who cares why Usopp was carrying extra clothes with him?

He picked his shirt off the floor and laid it over the back of the chair next to him while Usopp rummaged through his bookbag, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt. They both looked suspiciously like Laws. Sanji accepted them and moved to the corner of the room to change so that he wouldn’t embarrass Nami-swan. He folded his pants and undershirt and put them with his buttondown.

“Feeling better?” Nami asked.

“Much, thank you, Nami-swan.” Sanji smiled sweetly at her and sat down on the chair with his clothes. Nami sat on the floor crosslegged by the fire beside Usopp. “Law?”

“Hmm?” 

“Would you mind checking my knee and shoulder? I injured them both earlier.”

Law stood and walked over to him, motioning for the man to pull off the shirt he was wearing. He leaned down, gently touching around the wound on his shoulder. “It doesn’t look too bad.” The doctor murmured, turning to pull some antiseptic and gauze from the first aid kit, accepting the water bottle that Usopp handed over to him.

Sanji winced as Law began to clean the plaster and blood off the wound, but otherwise sat still listening as the others conversed amongst themselves. 

“What are we doing once we rest?”

“Get out,” Law said. “I assume the front door isn’t an option?”

Sanji shrugged his good shoulder, “not by just opening it. But maybe Nami-swan or Usopp could pick it. We would need to be careful though, it is a place where that thing could easily trap us in if it gets in the right position.” Sanji rubbed his eye, “I don’t even understand how the door got locked. It requires a key from both sides.” 

Nami scrunched up her nose, “it’s one of _those_. The only houses that have those are ones with something to hide.” 

“A monster perhaps?” Usopp said airily. He sighed, ignoring the dirty look Nami was giving him. “One of us could try while others keep watch. There are three corridors, so each person could keep an eye on one while the person picks the lock.” 

Sanji studied Usopp as the teen talked. He was studying his hands, leaning more and more against Nami with each word that passed his lips.

“We could break a window?” Law suggested, pulling tightly on the gauze on Sanji’s shoulder before tying it off. He motioned for Sanji to put his shirt back on. He kneeled and rolled up Sanji’s pants, gently examining the knee.

“Tried it already,” Nami said. “The windows won’t even unlatch. Even if we could break them, we would have the bars to deal with.”

“Even on the upper floors?”

“Yeah,” Sanji said, backing up Nami’s assessment. “Every window I’ve seen has had bars on it. And if the walls can repair themselves, we won’t be getting out by going through a wall either.”

Nami looked at him incredulously, “the doors can repair themselves‽” She looked over to Usopp who was still studying his hands, “how the hell did you figure that out?”

Sanji pointed to the injury on his shoulder, “I got this injury because the monster threw me through a wall in the bathroom downstairs.” He rotated his shoulder, wincing. “I had looked around the room, and retrieved something from the sink and when I turned around, the entire wall was fixed. The only proof I had that it even happened is my injuries.” 

“What was in the bathroom?” Usopp asked, perking up.

“A key.”

Usopp raised his eyebrows, “exactly how many do you have?”

Sanji leaned over to dig through his jacket pocket and took out the keys. “Four. the Library, 4th floor, the room that I found Nami-swan in and the one that she gave me that opens something on this floor.”

“It’s like one of those ‘escape the room’ puzzles. Maybe we just need to hit the right combination?” Law suggested as he began to dig in Usopp’s bag.

“Maybe,” Nami said softly. Sanji looked up to see Nami was pale, there seemed to be a look of fear and disbelief on her face. However, as soon as she noticed him looking, she forced on a smile. “Who is taking the first watch?” As she asked that, she was already beginning to lay down and place her head in Usopp's lap.

Law went back over to him and handed Sanji two pills and a bottle of water. Sanji took them gratefully, mulling over Nami’s question while he drank down the pills. “Sanji should sleep now, he has the most injuries,” Law stated before Sanji could state his opinion. But for that, Sanji was grateful.

Usopp nodded, “I agree. I don’t mind staying up if you guys want to rest.” Law covered a yawn as he sat down beside Usopp.  
“You can rest, I’ll take the first watch,” Law argued, but the exhaustion was evident in his voice. 

Usopp shook his head, “Nami is already out.” He motioned to the girl who was sleeping with her head in his lap, "and you are obviously exhausted.” He pushed Law down so that he was laying, head on Usopp’s bookbag, “just rest now. I promise I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.” Law couldn’t hide his next yawn and just mumbled his consent, moving to get into a more comfortable position.

Usopp sat there, watching the flames dance across the walls and floors of the room. He listened to their breathing as he fought to stay up himself, weakness seeming to seep into his bones with every second that passed. Slowly, he began to recline until he was laying back, eyes feeling heavy. “ _I can’t… let … them … down_.”

In seconds, he too was out. No one kept watch that night, except for the lone figure watching them from the darkest corner of the room, black eyes reflecting the light of the fire. 

_To be continued…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Chapter Warnings


	3. Entering the Mansion Pt. 2

_The House on the Hill_

* * *

**Chapter Three  
**

* * *

Nami woke just as the first trickles of the pinkish-orange light of dawn began to filter in through the curtains. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned, her back cracking with the movement. She turned on her side and caught a glimpse of Usopp’s watching shining in the early morning sun. _8:42. That’s the time we entered the mansion yesterday._ She looked up at the window and frowned. “It should be lighter out,” she muttered to herself as she sat up and carefully lifted herself off Law’s coat.

Sometime during the night, she had somehow manoeuvred herself onto Law’s coat, which Usopp had placed on the floor under himself. She smiled down at him before rolling her eyes at the sleeping boy beside her. If Nami needed to guess, she would say that not much night watching happened last night. Law and Sanji both seemed to be in just as deep a sleep as Usopp. In fact, a cannonball could probably blast through the window and they would likely sleep through it, from the looks of them.

She shivered and rubbed her numb hands over her shaking body. It felt as if she had slept in the snow for the entire evening. It was freezing! 

Nami stole a peek over her shoulder to the fireplace. While it was freezing in the room, the fire was still going strong. She shakily stood and walked over to the fire and sat on the marble step in front of it. The warmth from the fire did little to chase away the cold that had settled in her bones.

 _With the fire going this strong, the room should be much warmer,_ the girl mused to herself. _Maybe one of the boys let the fire go out and relit it recently?_

Once Nami had the feeling back in her extremities she stood and slowly made her way over to the other side of the room to look at the books lined up in the bookshelf. If she was up, she might as well read something and let the others sleep a bit more. She could keep watch for a bit.

Nami sunk into the chair at the desk by the bookshelf and crossed her legs before she began the book in her hand. The book was interesting but after about forty-five minutes of reading she started to feel unbearably warm and the words on the pages began to bleed together. 

She wiped her forehead with the sleeve of Usopp’s sweater before pulling off the item completely and throwing it over the back of the chair. Beads of sweat were running down her neck and making her arms, stomach and legs sticky. She stood then and walked over to the window to try and get some refuge from the heat. Wanting to take a look outside while she cooled down she pushed open the curtain and gasped.

The clouds from last night were gone, leaving behind a gorgeous blue sky and the brightly shining sun. The sun, which had just been rising not even an hour before, was at the highest point in the sky, making it noon- or very close to it.

“What the hell?” she muttered to herself, letting the curtain fall back into place. She glanced over at the fire, a sinking feeling in her chest. She walked over to the fireplace and kneeled to count the logs next to it. _Nine. We put one in last night. If one of the boys had gotten up and replaced a log we should have eight now. That means no one relit the fire last night._ Her frown deepened. That would mean that the fire had been roaring as it was for nearly 16 hours. 

_16 hours_ , she thought to herself. _How?_ She thought back to the evening before. She might have misread the sky- it had been extremely cloudy, but the deep feeling of dread that filled her body told her differently.

She leaned over and roughly shook Usopp’s shoulder. “Usopp, get up,” she urged her friend. He merely mumbled but didn’t respond otherwise. She tried Law and Sanji next, but neither of them responded to her either. Why couldn’t she wake them up?

Suddenly, something had slammed into the door and began to rattle the doorknob, intent on getting into the room. She gasped, her heart in her throat. She tried to take deep breaths to calm herself but the room was becoming suffocating in its heat. She tried Sanji again, shaking him and slapping his hip, “Sanji, you need to get up!”

_Rattle, Rattle, Rattle!_

He made neither sound nor movement.

_Rattle, Rattle, Rattle!_

Whatever took up residence at the door was not leaving and was continuing to rattle the doorknob relentlessly. Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. None of them should be in this deep of asleep, they weren’t heavy sleepers by any stretch of the imagination.

_Rattle, Rattle, Rattle!_

There is no way _16 hours_ had passed, it just wasn’t possible.

_Rattle, Rattle, Rattle!_

But no, in this house, it was possible. Everything she had seen yesterday proved that.

Suddenly, there was silence. Whatever was at the door had finally gone away- or so Nami had thought. As soon as the rattling stopped, there was the sound of something hard and heavy slamming against it. She wasn’t entirely certain that the door would hold against that type of abuse.

_Bang, Bang, Bang!_

As she eyed the door she slowly made her way over to the chair where she left Usopp’s sweater and pulled her Climatact out of the pocket. 

_Bang, Bang, Bang!_

Shakily, she began to put together her Climatact as she focused on forcing her breathing and frantic heart to settle. Several times she dropped some of the pieces, the clanging noise of the metal hitting the wooden floor resounding through her already shaky body, but was finally able to put it together after her fourth time trying.

_Bang, Bang, Bang!_

Nami tightly gripped the weapon in front of her body and slowly walked towards the door. There was no other choice, she would have to defend them herself and it would be a lot harder to defend them if she were to get trapped in the room with whatever is on the other side of that door. She stopped, hand on the handle and closed her eyes tightly. She didn’t want to fight what was on the other side of the door, not alone. 

Slowly, she counted to ten before turning to look back at her friends. They are always going out of their way to protect her, now it was her turn to protect them.

If they wanted any chance of getting out of there and back to the Sunny, she would need to get through this on her own. She took one last deep breath and opened the door, flipping the lock so that the door would lock behind her. Slowly, she pulled it open wider, the screeching of the door’s hinges resonating through the corridors. With her head held high, she stepped out into the hall, ready to face whatever was out there.

o0o

“Luffy, are you sure this is a good idea?” Chopper asked from his spot on Luffy’s shoulders. He didn’t like the smell of the area, something was definitely off about it. It was almost as if the path were warning them off. It would explain why he hasn’t seen an animal since about a mile out of the village. “I don’t like the smell of this place.”

Luffy laughed his carefree laugh and reached over to rub Chopper’s head. “It’ll be fun, Chopper! Just think of all the cool things we can see!”

Chopper gave him a dubious look before he sighed and propped his chin on the top of Luffy’s hat. There wasn’t much he could do about it now, at any rate.

Zoro was on their left side, his one good eye scanning the area for any sign of trouble. His eyebrows were scrunched together, as if he too, sensed that something wasn’t right. But if he sensed something wrong he didn’t voice any concerns.

Robin stood on their other side, talking about the intel that she had gathered from villagers before they had left. If she sensed something wrong, she didn’t mention it either. Franky took up the back of the group, looking as carefree as Luffy. He had his fingers interlocked behind his neck as he looked up at the sky studying the moving clouds.

“According to the bartender, the mansion has been here for as long as anyone could remember, but no one knows who it belongs to. Some swear up and down that it just appeared on top of this hill one day.” Robin said as she looked across the long winding road ahead of them, “Others were saying that the people who go explore the mansion go missing and never come back.

“I asked some of them to elaborate, to give names of people or more details, but when pressed they would get this blank look in their eyes. I think they were under some sort of memory charm.” Robin didn’t bother to mention that their reactions were the reason she decided to come up to the mansion. If someone placed a memory charm on those people, there must be something hidden at the mansion, something big.

Finally, after another hour of walking down the dirt path, the mansion stood before them in all its glory. Chopper lifted his chin from Luffy’s head, “this is it?” he asked dubiously. Sure, it wasn’t the prettiest place in the world. The paint was peeling, there were bars on the windows and the lawn was overrun, but you would expect that from a house that was supposedly abandoned. 

“It’s not very interesting,” Franky said in a bored tone. “I could have stayed behind and finished some modifications on the ship if this was what we were going to see.”

“I wouldn’t judge the book by its cover just yet,” Robin said cryptically. Sure, it _looked_ harmless, but some of the most dangerous things in the world did.

Chopper sniffed the air, frowning. “do you guys smell that?” 

“Smell what?” Zoro asked. He was eyeing the mansion, scanning across all of the windows and the front door. From the corner of his eye, he saw a curtain on the second-floor move, and there was a flash of orange hair before it disappeared. He narrowed his eye, but there was no other movement so he chalked it up to a trick of the light. 

“It smells funny, like death and staleness, stale death?”

Robin hummed and motioned towards the fruit tree grove on the other side of the grounds. “The 

‘death’ you smell is likely coming from the garden as no one is tending it.” 

Chopper looked and sure enough, there was plenty of rotted fruit on the floor. “And the stale smell would likely be from the mansion not having the windows open for a long time.” She reached up and patted Chopper on the head, “it means it’s empty.” 

Chopper’s frown deepened. What he was smelling was _not_ from the fruit grove- no rotted fruit smelt that close to what death smelt like. However, before he could voice his concerns there was a creaking noise that pierced through the air. He and the others looked up just in time to see the front door swing open. “Although…” Robin muttered while she eyed the door curiously. 

Zoro had tensed and pulled out one of his swords, and even Franky was more on alert, standing up straight. Luffy however...

Chopper screamed as Luffy bolted forward, his hooves gripping to the captain’s hat as the rubber man ran up the stairs and through the front door before anyone could say a word. “Luffy-bro! We need to stay together!” Franky called, walking in after Luffy, followed closely by Robin and Zoro.

Luffy stood in the annexe, grinning ear to ear at the sight before him. There were three ways he could go, three adventures he could have, plus a staircase, leading to even more places to explore upstairs. 

He went down the corridor straight ahead to look around in the back. “Luffy, you can’t just run into places without knowing what’s there!” Chopper chastised. 

“Eh? But that’s what we do all the time!” Luffy exclaimed, slowing down as they entered the door leading to another corridor that ran through the back of the house. The corridor branched off into two bedrooms and another door close to the entrance that was locked.

Chopper gasped and covered his nose with his hooves as Luffy entered the first bedroom on the right. “L-Luffy, it smells like blood. I think something bad happened here.”

Luffy sniffed and shrugged his shoulders, “it smells a bit weird, but there’s no blood around. Are you sure?”

Chopper looked over his shoulder and studied the room around them. It was true. Nothing looked out of place, and there certainly wasn’t any blood anywhere. But… his nose did not lie. Something definitely happened in that room.

“I’m going to check out the other room,” Chopper said finally, wanting to get out of the room. He jumped off Luffy’s shoulder and hurried through the door as Luffy waved him off, already lost in the various knick-knacks on the bookshelf.

The bedroom Chopper went into was hardly better, but it was a bit easier to deal with. The smell of blood wasn’t nearly as strong. On the desk, he found a note that said: _Repair the leaky toilets, refill the first aid kit on the second floor, fix the piano keys._ He shrugged, put the note in his pocket, and went to look at the rest of the room. 

He took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out, the frown that has been present since they entered the house becoming deeper. Even though the room smelt like it should be covered under layers upon layers of dust, blood and mould, it was spotless.

He swiped his hoove across the surface of a nearby bookshelf and it came up clean. Chopper couldn’t ignore the sense of dread that was filling his entire body and left to go meet up again with Luffy. He didn’t want to be in the mansion any longer than he needed to, and he certainly didn’t want to be alone.

He walked to the door of where Luffy was and said, “We should go check on the others. Maybe there are cooler things on the other side of the house?” Luffy agreed, already bored with the room he was looking through, and the two of them walked to the front door to see where everyone else had found. 

Only Robin remained in the annexe. She was sitting on a chair that had been placed by the front door and was flipping through a book of spells. The same look of concentration she normally had when she did important research was on her face. 

The book was not one Chopper recognised and where Robin could have gotten it from Chopper couldn’t even begin to have guessed. She certainly didn’t have it on her when they arrived. He would remember the smell of that particular book, covered with magic as it was. He jumped onto Robin’s shoulder and sniffed the book. It was similar to the scent he had caught earlier when they were walking. Why hadn’t he noticed earlier that what he had smelt was magic?

“Where did Zoro and Franky go?” Luffy asked, looking around for their two friends.

“They went upstairs,” Robin replied, snapping the book shut. “There is a Library just over there, I went to check it out. They have quite a fascinating selection on the Occult.”

Sulfur filled Chopper’s nostrils and he began to sneeze erratically. The smell of death, old blood and burnt burn followed the smell and he had to force himself to not get sick. He jumped onto Luffy’s shoulders and wrapped his arms tightly around Luffy’s head and pulled on his mouth, “Something’s wrong.” From Robin and Luffy’s alarmed reactions, Chopper wagered a guess that he was the only one who could smell what was happening around them. Although in hindsight, Luffy’s reaction might have more to do with Chopper grabbing his mouth and refusing to let go

“Cwoppur - wah?!” Luffy struggled to get the wriggly reindeer off him when suddenly the lights around them flickered. In the confusion, Luffy caught movement from the corner of his eye. Just as he was about to turn toward it, assuming it was either Franky or Zoro, he was thrown into the front door. The full force of his body landed on Chopper, and pushed Robin off her chair, causing it to skitter across the shiny wooden floor and leave gouges in its wake. The last thing Luffy saw were two black onyx eyes staring at him through the flickering lights before they were plunged into complete darkness. 

o0o

Something was definitely off. Normally, the sense of danger wouldn’t bother Zoro, but that was because he was used to knowing what he was getting into, in some capacity. He also knew he could fight whatever it was. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Everything looked perfectly normal, and that had his radar going off. This place was much worse than when he lived with Mihawk and Perona in that damned castle.

“There is something off about this place,” Franky said as he ascended the stairs behind Zoro. He had to duck his head to avoid hitting it on the ceiling and was already looking a bit agitated. 

Zoro grunted in affirmation, his arms crossed over his chest as he waited for Franky at the top of the stairs. “Magic of some sort,” he stated after a moment. 

“It would have been a good idea to bring Usopp with us,” Franky commented. He scowled, as he went up the last step and hit his head on the ceiling.

The swordsman snorted, “that scaredy-cat wouldn’t step foot near this place if you paid him.”

Franky rubbed his forehead and shrugged his left shoulder, “he’s the only one who would be able to make sense of what we are feeling.” He paused in front of a door and sniffed strongly his brow furrowing. “Although. Robin is good at reading runes and knows quite a bit about magic herself… do you smell that?”

Zoro breathed in deeply. The familiar smell of old blood filled his nostrils, but not the kind he was used to smelling. It smelt more… _burnt_ than he was used to. There was also an underlying scent of something else, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it… bone, perhaps? 

It wasn’t something he was good at, picking up smells from magic, or potions, or whatever. That was entirely Robin’s and to a newer extent, Usopp’s thing. Ever since they visited the Village of the Seer’s and his powers were completely awakened. 

The Village of the Seers was an island that the crew had stayed on for 2 months. There they learned everything they could about magic to prepare themselves for Raftel. On their travels, they began to hear rumours of some sort of curse on the island. It is said that the curse needs to be broken to get the One Piece. Not wanting to take any chances Nami and Robin had, somehow, convinced Luffy that it was better to be prepared in the face of magic than unprepared. Especially since none of them had any experience with it.

Zoro, as sad as he was to admit it, was hard-pressed to say he got much out of the experience other than more swordsman training. Not that he was going to complain. He never had the experience of fighting a swordsman that used magic and was happy for the chance to practice. But, outside of that, he felt pretty useless.

The smell of the potions that they were taught to make to counteract curses among other things, made him nauseated to the point that he couldn’t eat or drink anything for the rest of the day. This meant that he couldn’t help in the creation of them. 

He couldn’t make heads or tails of runes, so he was useless for research. And when he encountered the centre of a place’s magic, the core as it was called, turned him around so badly that the first time he encountered one he couldn’t tell anyone his name for over an hour after getting out of it. Apparently, it was a ‘good thing’ that he was sensitive to a magic’s core. It was an important part of unravelling it. There were very few people who could.

As much as it made sense that Zoro couldn’t connect with magic as well as one would hope, it made perfect sense that Usopp, and to a certain extent Robin, could. The kid did come up with wild stories that came true. Being a seer definitely was a better explanation than the one the crew had come up with originally. Zoro chuckled as he remembered them all sitting around a table discussing Usopp’s uncanny ability. _Usopp manipulating reality, what_ had they been on? 

And Robin, well, she could already read Poneglyphs, so magic runes were simple enough for her to master. She didn’t have the magic to actually do anything with what she learned, but with her reading the runes and Usopp doing the magic, they made a formidable team.

“Zoro-bro?” Franky asked after several moments of silence. If Zoro was feeling lost, he could only imagine what Franky was feeling. The guy had no ‘sense’ at all. 

Zoro rubbed the back of his head, “smells like someone lit a fire recently.”

Franky hummed in agreement, “maybe someone had the same idea as us?” He shivered, “but I don’t see why they would want to. It feels so _dead_ here.”

Zoro paused, his eyes widening a bit. So _that_ had been the other thing he had was feeling. He scowled at himself then, feeling a bit stupid. He had lived with Perona for two years! He should have realised that he couldn’t sense spirits or anything in the house. Zoro was getting too complacent if he couldn’t sense things he had been around for two damn years. 

“I’m going upstairs, are you coming?” Zoro said shortly, already beginning to walk up the stairs to the third floor. 

Franky shook his head. “I think I’ll explore down here. Meet back here in 15 minutes?”

Zoro raised a hand in acknowledgement and climbed the stairs, leaving Franky alone on the second floor. He could see flickers of golden spellwork on the walls, faint, so faint that if he hadn’t been specifically looking for it he wouldn’t have even noticed. Whatever spells were on this house were old, _very old_. Even someone like him, with barely any ‘sight’, could see that.

He tried the door immediately to the right of the stairwell and walked in. It was a Library, quite large for one in a home. Zoro was willing to bet it was larger than the one on the Sunny, and he was certain their collection was one of the biggest onboard a ship sailing the seas. 

There were five rows of books and each row had six bookcases and each bookcase held between seventy-five to a hundred books. “Those three would have the time of their lives in this place,” Zoro muttered to himself as he ran his hands over the spines of various Navigation, Engineering and Historical books. From the corner of his eye, he saw that there was an entire bookshelf of cookbooks and another just on swordsmanship. Interesting, but not enough to keep him there any longer. 

He exited and went to the room that was off on the far left wall, by the stairway. He stopped, his hand on the doorknob and swallowed. “ _Fuck,_ ” he muttered to himself, whatever was in that room ran the entirety of magic for the house. Zoro was sure of it. What the fuck it was anchored too, he had no damn idea, but it was definitely the epicentre. 

He had never felt so sick in his life, his head was swimming and he was confused beyond belief. Through sheer will, he swallowed and opened the door to reveal a white piano in the middle of a white room. He gripped the wall as he felt himself sway. He wouldn’t be able to enter the room. 

This room of magic was way stronger than any core of magic he had felt when training on Seer Island. Maybe Franky and Luffy would be able to go in and check it out as they seemed to be wholly unaffected by magic if their time on the island was any indication. Perhaps Chopper too, depending on the type of magic. He seemed to be sensitive to some types more than others. 

Zoro slammed the door shut and hurried up the stairs to the fourth floor, desperate to get rid of the nauseated feeling rising in his throat and the dizziness overcoming his body. He almost sighed in relief when the smell of old burnt blood filled his nostrils. That he could handle. 

He took a deep breath and peeked into the first room he saw. There wasn’t much there except a lever on the wall and a note beside it that read:

_“Above is Heaven,_

_In the Middle Earth Lies,_

_Underneath it is Hell.”_

Both might be a curious decorative choice, but there was nothing that set off any alarm bells in Zoro’s mind. What did interest him was that this room was directly above the epicentre so he should feel some of the residue magic, but he didn’t. He made a note to talk to Robin about it when they met back up and moved onto the other room across the corridor. 

The door opened and revealed a red majestic chair at the far wall. Zoro frowned, he recognized it as one similar to the one that he saw during their time on Seer Island. It had been cursed if he remembered correctly. 

He turned towards the crooked bookcase in the far corner of the room when he heard Luffy’s yell of “ _Gum Gum Gatling!_ ” and Chopper’s scream of fear. He ran out the door and down the stairs, stopping at the second floor to look for Franky. Of course, he was nowhere to be seen. He must have gone downstairs already. Zoro quickly moved through the corridor, looking for the stairwell that led downstairs.

On his way, he checked all the rooms that would open to make sure Franky wasn’t still up there. When he entered the final room he paused, his eyes scanning the room before landing on the huge fireplace in the back.

The burnt smell of bone and old blood was strongest in the fireplace than any other place in the house. As curious as that was, he needed to check on his friends. Zoro could easily come back later with the others to check it out. He was about to leave the room when he caught sight of what was in the fireplace. 

“Sanji’s… clothes!?” 

He ran across the room and quickly picked out the remnants of Sanji’s suit, tie and jacket. They were charred, but even that couldn’t disguise the smell of the soaked blood in the fabric. Nor could it hide the fact that it was definitely one of Sanji’s tailored suits.

That didn’t make any sense. The cook was back at the ship. How the fuck would he be at the mansion? There had to be another explanation for why the pervert-cook’s clothes were in the fireplace. But what?

He swallowed down his sense of fear and tucked the clothes under his arm before he stood. He needed to get downstairs to Luffy and the others. At this time he could only deal with what he knew was true, which was that something was happening downstairs. After they deal with that, he can look into why Sanji’s clothes were in a fireplace in a mansion he never set foot in.

Zoro quickly made his way through the labyrinth of the corridors before finally finding the stairwell that led downstairs. As he descended the stairs, anxiety began to fill him and the sick feeling in his stomach began to return. Just as he landed on the last step of the staircase he was blinded, and he blindly grabbed at the rail of the stairs to keep himself steady. 

Before him stood Luffy, Robin and Chopper- he knew because he could hear their alarmed voices. From what he could tell Robin and Chopper were pinned by the door and Luffy was blocking the stairwell he was on. He squinted, his eyes flashing as he tried to use his haki to compensate for his temporary blindness. While it wasn’t nearly as strong as it would normally be, he was able to make out a grey-skinned monster with a huge head and even huger black eyes standing in the middle of the annexe. The energy of the house seemed to be wrapped around its entire body like a blanket, covering it in a blinding white light. 

Luffy looked over his shoulder at Zoro, a serious expression marring his usually happy face. “Zoro, stand back. You can’t see very well, can you?”

Despite Luffy not having the ‘sight’ as the seers called it, he was disturbingly in touch with what was happening around him and how it affected the ones with it. When the seer’s found out, they had been ecstatic. It was rare that someone with no sight at all would be able to sense how other’s with the sight were affected. An empathy that would likely keep them all safe if they were to encounter a serious situation involving magic. Like now.

Chopper had transformed, but from what Zoro could gather, the reindeer seemed to have trouble keeping his form and as a result, kept switching from his usual form to his bigger form and back again, not staying in one form for more than a few seconds at a time.

The monster, thing, whatever it was, had one of Robin’s knives embedded in its skull, at the temple, but that didn’t seem to bother whatever the fuck was in front of them in the least. 

He had to do something, he couldn’t just stand there. Zoro dropped Sanji’s suit on the floor and pulled his swords out. Shakily, he jumped around Luffy, and slashed at the monster, using his haki as best as he could to avoid the others. 

The monster gave a screech and lashed its hand out, throwing Zoro clean across the corridor, almost into the Kitchen. It hurt like a bitch, but the space between him and that _thing_ allowed his head to clear, and he could focus more easily. While his sight had not come back completely, he could see the blurry outlines of his friends.

While the monster was distracted, Luffy extended his body and began wrapping his legs around the monster’s own without it seeing him.

Robin seemed to have some book in hand and was quickly flipping through pages. _Odd time for a bit of reading_ , Zoro thought, but it didn’t seem like anything else affected the monster. Maybe she could read the fucking thing to death. 

Suddenly, Robin let out an anguished scream. Zoro squinted and widened his eyes in shock. The magic that surrounded the monster was racing out to Robin and was trying to intertwine with hers and pull it from her body. 

She was quick to two the book to the ground and pull out the gun hidden on her thigh. She squeezed the trigger and hit the monster square between the eyes.

The creature snarled and reached a claw up to its forehead to fish out the bullet. The wound healed on the spot, leaving not a mark behind. 

Zoro twirled his sword in his hand and was about to bolt at the monster when it suddenly locked eyes with him, stunning him into stillness. As the monster began to bolt at him, he lost more and more of his sight until all he could see was white light.

He cursed and tensed, closing his eyes tightly. He held his swords in front of him and called for his haki to help him locate the monster. However, his haki wasn’t cooperating and he couldn’t sense anything. If he didn’t do something soon he would -

The creature skidded to a halt and screamed a terrorizing yell. Zoro blindly looked around him, but he still couldn’t see anything. However, he could feel the heat of fire suddenly flare up in front of him. “Are you okay?” a voice asked in front of him, and it was then that Zoro knew that Sanji had arrived.

Zoro couldn’t reply and merely gave the cook a nod. His sight suddenly came flooding back to him when Sanji rushed at the monster and sent it flying over Luffy’s head and into the stairwell. It disappeared, taking all of the magic that filled the room with it. Sanji kneeled the fire on his legs put out as he gasped for breath. 

They all studied the spot where the monster disappeared for several moments before relaxing. It wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. 

Sanji stood and cracked his back before smiling at them. “Is everyone okay?” He helped Robin up and reached down to grab the book she dropped. He had just enough time to hand the book back to her before his arms were full of a wailing Chopper. He hugged the reindeer and held him close while he talked to the others. “You guys must be exhausted. I imagine you met that thing more times than I have considering you’ve been here a couple of days.”

“The fuck you talking about, Cook?” Zoro asked as he sheathed his swords. He still felt extremely confused and while his sight had come back, it was still a bit blurry around the edges. 

Robin threw Sanji a curious look, “we’ve only been here about an hour.” 

Luffy sat on the steps and blew up his cheeks, “yeah! How did you guys get here so quickly!? It took us _hours_ and when we left you were all going back to the ship.”

Sanji narrowed his eyes at the captain, then turned to look at the others for confirmation on what Luffy was saying. Zoro, Robin and Chopper nodded in agreement. 

Sanji sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. “We need to let Usopp and Law know that we found you.” He put his hands in his pocket and nodded upstairs. “We have a room on the second floor that is safe. Let’s get there before that damn thing comes back.” 

A sense of foreboding filled Zoro as he ascended the stairs behind the others. He paused and made sure to grab Sanji’s burnt suit. An explanation was definitely in order.

_To Be Continued..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Warnings
> 
> Spoiler Alert (Recent One Piece Stuff).
> 
> Is it Laugh Tale now, or are we still going with Raftel? Let me know so I can update as needed!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!  
> See you soon,  
> Chandlure


	4. Someone's Missing... Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings:
> 
> Mention of Alcoholic Beverages
> 
> No other warnings.

The House on the Hill

* * *

_Someone's Missing... Right?_

* * *

Sanji pushed open the door to the room with the metal door and allowed Zoro and the others in before locking it behind them. Law and Usopp were nowhere in sight, so Sanji called out, "Oi, Shit-heads! I found the others." When no one answered his call, he kicked at the metal door in the upper left corner of the room, leaving a foot-shaped hole in the exterior. "I found them, get your asses out here!"

"Why do you have to be so obnoxious?" Usopp called groggily from behind the door. Sanji could hear Law talking to Usopp softly, but urgently, and the other's whining response. He sighed, the sniper sounded absolutely wrecked.

Usopp had been searching the room in a panic when Sanji had woken, terrified at Nami's sudden disappearance. The cook wasn't certain how much sleep Usopp has gotten. The boy didn't sleep much when anxious, and while he seemed oddly, _chill_ , other than the incident in the morning, Sanji suspected that Usopp's anxiety was merely bubbling under the surface, much worse than usual.

Everything was a bit off since entering the mansion though, himself included. Sanji was alarmed when he woke to see that he had slept past noon, with no recollection of anyone trying to wake him to change shifts. He normally did not sleep more than 5 hours at a time so sleeping more than 12 threw him for a loop. It wasn't something he had done since he was 10, and he had been extremely ill at the time.

The group had to wait a few more minutes before the door finally opened to reveal Law with Usopp clinging to his arm. The sniper looked ready to drop where he stood, with heavy and black bags lined underneath each eye. "Did you get everything you needed?" Sanji asked, moving his eyes to the large bag on Law's other shoulder.

"Yes," Law replied shortly. "We should go."

Law and Usopp led the group through the corridor to the room with the fireplace. While Nami had gone missing there, it was still one of the more secure places they knew about where the entire group could comfortably converse.

Once they were all situated and the door was shut firmly behind them, Law began to look at the cuts on Zoro and the others, adding antiseptic and bandages when needed. When he was done with that he knelt in front of Zoro and held the swordsman's face in his hand, shining a light into his right eye. "You said that you went temporarily blind? How is your sight now?"

Zoro grunted, "back to normal." He leaned back to disengage Law's hand from his face and get the blinding light out of his eye.

"Do you know what caused it?" Law leaned down to put his light away and stood, brushing his pants off.

Zoro merely shrugged, "it was the magic that thing was emitting."

Law hummed in response. He remembered that back on Seer Island, Zoro was extremely sensitive to magic, and often got ill from exposure, but he couldn't remember an instance where the man had been blinded.

That tidbit of information was both interesting and worrying. Would there be a point where there would be so much magic that Zoro would go blind permanently? And along that vein, _why_ was he going blind? He would have to discuss it later with Chopper, and perhaps Robin and Usopp when he had a chance. Maybe they had some insight he didn't.

Absentmindedly, he walked over to Usopp's bag and pulled out the box they had found on the fourth floor. "We're burning this."

Sanji looked up from his spot beside Zoro, "shouldn't we check what is inside it first?"

"Usopp doesn't think it is a good idea."

Sanji held his tongue. Usopp never thinks anything is a good idea, it was practically the sniper's MO. Zoro shifted beside him and cleared his throat. "If Usopp thinks we should burn it without opening it, we should."

Sanji looked at him with wide eyes, "seriously?" Zoro seldom went with Usopp's whims.

Zoro shrugged, "he is a seer. Maybe he could tell that nothing good would come of opening it."

Sanji glanced over to Usopp where he sat by the fireplace, his knees pulled up to his chest. He had been in that position since they entered the room. If they could calm him down enough to speak, they could ask- but that was unlikely.

Sanji frowned as Usopp dug his face into his knees and lightly pulled at his hair. He could hear the other mumbling under his breath, but for the life of him couldn't understand what the younger boy was saying. Law carelessly threw the box into the fire and went to sit by Usopp. He leaned his forehead against the side of Usopp's head and began to whisper something to him.

"Whatever," he said finally with a wave of his hand. The cook turned his gaze to the others in the room. "What happened to you guys when you got here?"

Robin hummed, "that's a good idea. We can tell our stories and create a timeline. It will make things much easier to follow." She pulled out a notebook from her bag and a pen, ready to take notes. "I can start. We arrived about an hour ago. Luffy and Chopper went to the back room downstairs, I went to the Library and Zoro and Franky came up to the second floor."

Zoro nodded, "Franky stayed on the second floor and I went to check out the third and fourth floors." He tapped his fingers on the table as he thought. "When I got to the fourth floor I heard Luffy attack something and came back down. I couldn't find Franky so I went downstairs assuming he was with you." He leaned down and picked up Sanji's bloodied clothes from the fireplace. He turned to Sanji, his eyes burning. "I found these in the fireplace over here. Why the hell were your clothes in the fireplace and why are they covered in blood?" He whispered the last part angrily to the cook, unable to keep his voice steady.

Sanji stared down at the clothes for a moment, studying the red-stained items. "That's paint." He said finally.

"What?" He quickly glanced down at the clothes in his hand before looking back up at Sanji. "How the fuck did you, of all people, get _paint_ on you?" Zoro asked incredulously. Sanji was nothing if not a perfectionist about keeping his clothes clean. The guy wouldn't step foot in Usopp's factory because the kid had paint everywhere.

Law looked up from whispering at Usopp, "Usopp had a bit of a meltdown this morning- we all got into an argument about what to do since Nami went missing, and threw his paint at me and Sanji." Law turned a bit and sure enough, there was red paint marring the right side of his sweater and pants.

Sanji snorted, "the smell of the paint made me nauseated so I took the extra clothes Usopp had in his bag and changed. I remember putting them on the chair before I left the room." He stared at them quietly, "I'm not sure how they got in the fireplace."

He shrugged nonchalantly. It was true that a fight had broken out earlier that day, and that things were thrown. He remembered using his ruined clothes to clean the furniture and floors after changing, but, now that Sanji had a closer look, there _was_ blood on the fabric. He had no idea where the fresh blood would have come from or how his clothes had wound up in the fireplace.

"... arrived yesterday morning." Sanji pulled himself out of his thoughts and tried to pay attention to the conversation. Law had switched places with Luffy and was sitting at the table while Luffy tried to get through to Usopp. The captain had placed his chin on Usopp's bicep and was rubbing his back, talking urgently but quietly.

"I came with Usopp, Sanji and Nami after you guys failed to return the night before. When we arrived we got separated for a bit, found each other and then came in here for the evening." Law nodded to the door. "It's one of the only places in the house that had enough room and locked properly."

"The night?" Luffy asked from his spot by Usopp. He was leaning his head against Usopp's his eyes echoing the confusion on all their faces. "How?"

Sanji shrugged, "who the fuck knows. We got here around 8:30 in the morning yesterday, spent 12 hours looking for you guys and getting attacked, then we went to bed when it was pitch dark out and woke up sometime after Noon today."

"That's when we realised Nami was gone and you guys showed up."

"She couldn't have disappeared into thin air, where is she?" Robin asked.

"We don't know." Sanji roughly ran his hands through his hair and growled. He hated feeling so useless, especially when Nami-swan was in trouble. _Fuck_ , he needed a cigarette.

He kneeled and started to run his hands over Zoro's body. He pressed firmly against the naked skin of Zoro's chest and slid his hands inside the coat, running them down his body. Not an inch of skin was spared his attention until Zoro coughed, "er." He was bright red and was doing everything he could to avoid looking at the cook. "We aren't alone."

Sanji scoffed, "Fuck you. I want my cigarettes, Shitty-Swordsman." Zoro rolled his eyes and shoved Sanji's hands off him before reaching into his pants pocket and pulling out a half-pack of cigarettes.

Sanji grabbed them and pressed the pack to his face, breathing in the nicotine deeply. "Oh, sweet sweet poison."

Robin wrote down a note and looked up, "so we have two people missing." She said, tapping her pen against the paper. "Nami and Franky."

"Looks like it," Zoro said, tapping his fingers against the wood as he looked around the room.

"Sanji, how many times have you run into the monster?"

Sanji thought for a moment, "twice."

"Three," Usopp said from the fireplace. He was laying his cheek on his knees, but the group could see his face.

Sanji nodded, "right Downstairs would be the third time." He threw his pack of cigarettes on the table. "Did it look familiar to any of you? I feel like I've seen it before."

Everyone shook their heads, including Usopp. Sanji frowned at that. He swore that he saw something that looked very similar to the monster in one of the boy's sketchbooks.

Usopp stood up from his spot and began to poke at the box in the fire with the fireplace poker. The lid broke off the box and fell to the bottom of the fire. "It looks like something is in the box," Usopp said, leaning a bit closer to see what was inside.

Sanji could have told him that, "what is it?"

"Hmm," Usopp poked at the box a bit more, tipping it over and causing it to fall onto the marble step in front of the fire. "Shit!" he jumped back a bit to avoid being burned. He poked at the box again before using the poker to lip up the heated object. A key was revealed beneath. "Another key- ground floor from the looks of it."

"The room behind the stairs?" Chopper asked, "there is a locked room there."

Usopp shrugged, "possibly, there is one other door in the kitchen that is locked. I can't imagine that leads to another hallway." he muttered more to himself than them.

"Many of the doors here lock behind you. Nami-swan and Franky may be stuck in one of th- _shit, shit, shit_!"

The rattling of the doorknob interrupted Sanji and they all stood, eyeing the door wearily. Soon after, slamming began, as if something heavy was being thrown against the door. The air suddenly felt dry and the room's temperature plunged to freezing.

Sanji jumped to his feet, barely dodging Zoro as the swordsman whipped out his swords. "It's here," Sanji stated. "Luffy and I will distract it while you guys get out of here and see where that key leads to." He fired up his leg, "we will meet you downstairs when this is over."

"I need Robin to check out something on the third floor with me. Usopp, Chopper and Law can go ahead to the ground floor." Zoro said Robin nodded in agreement, as she placed her books in her bag.

Law held his sword in one hand and Usopp's bag in the other as the boy reached down and took the key from the front of the fireplace, Chopper made himself comfortable on Usopp's shoulder. Sanji counted, stopping short suddenly, "where the fuck is Luffy!?" Sanji growled, quickly scanning the room for the captain but not seeing him.

"What are you talking about, Pervert-Cook? Luffy was never here," Zoro said, staring at Sanji oddly.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Shit-for-Brains!?" Sanji threw up his head, "whatever, we need to get going." he growled as the door began to crack. "We will meet upstairs when we are all done. No point in letting Moss-head get lost."

The door splintered, and Sanji turned, leg raised to attack just as the monster smashed through the door and charged inside. He jumped to the side and kicked it across the chest, flames blazing. The creature went flying into the window which allowed Law, Usopp, Chopper and Robin time to slip out the door. Law took Usopp and Chopper down the corridor while Robin stayed back by the wall. She had her spellbook out and was looking through the pages, her lips pursed.

The monster straightened itself from the tangle of curtains and eyed them carefully. It kept its distance, studying the two men before it. Sanji glared it down, ignoring the shiver of fear that ran through his body. _What was it thinking? How much sentient thought did it have? What did it want?_

"What's the plan?"

"We corner it," Sanji said before rushing the creature. He jumped over the monster's head, kicking it hard in the back and shoving it into the table. The table splintered under the monster's weight, breaking in two. The creature sprang to its feet and slashed at Zoro, missing. It then turned on Sanji instead, so sickeningly fast that the cook didn't have the time to respond.

Sanji was thrown through the wall by the door and into the corridor, just barely missing Robin as he skidded across the floor. "Sanji!" Robin leaned down to look him over, muttering to herself. He felt a heat run through his body and tingling in some areas. "Stay still for a moment, the healing magic will work quicker that way." Sanji groaned, unable to answer as he forced air into his lungs. He pushed himself up and looked through the hole to where Zoro and the monster were continuing the fight.

Zoro cleanly blocked the next blow with the sword in right his hand, his feet skidding against the floor through broken wood and sheetrock.

Sanji stumbled to his feet and rocketed forward, he relit the flames on his leg and got the monster directly in the chest, getting him to back off Zoro. Zoro made a slash at the monster, the blade barely cutting into the monster's shoulder before it let out an agonizing scream and vanished from the room.

Sanji backed himself to the bed dust and sheetrock covered bed and plopped down. He leaned his elbows in his knees, dropped his head into his hands and took a deep breath. " _Shit_ ," he muttered to himself. He sat up and looked at the wall, feeling a small satisfaction that the hole in the wall was still there.

Zoro plopped down beside him and threw himself back to lay on the bed. He closed his eyes while Robin healed him, allowing the warm magic to flow through his body. "Don't use too much, you know how it drains you." He muttered to Robin before nudging Sanji with his foot. "Did we beat it, or did it run away?"

Sanji threw himself down beside Zoro and leaned on his arm so that he hovered over him, "dunno. It just vanishes like that. It doesn't come back very quickly and it's never attacked in the same place twice. So, we are probably safe… for now."

"Hmm."

"You seem fine," Robin commented. She stood and walked over to the other side of the bed. Leaning over Sanji she took his face in her hands to study him better. After a moment she nodded and let go of his face, ignoring the light stream of blood running down his nose.

Zoro rolled his eyes at Sanji and threw himself onto his feet, slowly stalking around the room as if he were looking for something.

"You both should be good now." She bent down and pulled Sanji's soiled clothes from under the bed, "although, if you think we will mistake blood for paint, you are sorely mistaken, Cook-san."

Before Sanji could retort, the sound of shattering glass filled their ears. Sanji jumped to his feet and looked over Robin's shoulder. Zoro was glaring down at his foot, something made of metal and glass smashed on the floor under Zoro's foot. They both raised an eyebrow at the swordsman, and he blushed scarlet. "The ticking was driving me insane!" he said defensively, kicking what looked to be the broken remains of a clock away from him.

Sanji rubbed his head, he felt like the room was suddenly a bit easier to breathe in, but he had a pounding headache. Seeing that under Zoro's foot did remind him though… "Does anyone have a watch? Mine has been stuck at 8 _:43_ since we entered here yesterday morning."

Robin checked her watch, "it's _13:57_."

Sanji nodded and looked down at his own watch sadly before his eyes widened. "Now my watch is reading the correct time. It wasn't a little while ago." he frowned, saying the last part more to himself than her.

"Maybe it is because Swordsman-san broke the clock?" Robin offered, she began to quickly flip through her book. "I remember there being something in here about time magic."

Sanji shrugged, "we don't have much evidence to go on. Maybe all the fighting knocked the battery back into place?" He paused for a moment, to stare down at the watch on his wrist for a moment longer. "In any case, we should get going."

"Great, I need Robin to confirm something for me," Zoro said.

Robin nodded, "yes. There is also another room on this floor that I believe has a clock. We can try out our little theory before we go upstairs to meet the others as -."

 _Puru-puru-puru-puru-puru_ _,_ Robin patted her coat pocket and pulled out a ringing baby den-den mushi. _Puru-puru-puru-gacha!_ _ **"**_ Hello?" There was silence on the other end before a piano note was played and then the den-den mushi closed its eyes indicating that the call was over. The three of them stared at the den-den mushi for a moment in awe.

"What the fuck?"

"A piano note?" Robin muttered to herself, putting the den-den mushi back into her pocket. "I wonder what that was about?"

Zoro ran a hand through his hair, "I actually was going to take you to a piano room. That's what I want to show you on the third floor. I think it's the epicentre for the magic in the house."

"We should get going before anything else weird happens," Sanji sighed, nodding to them and leading the way out of the door to the piano room.

o0o

Law's long fingers were wrapped tightly around Usopp's wrist as he pulled him forward through the corridor. He ignored Usopp's boisterous complaints, his concentration fully on their surroundings as he tried to sense any signs of trouble. Chopper sat atop Usopp's shoulder, his hooves tightly wound into Usopp's locks as he tried to not be bounced off the sniper's shoulders from the force of Law's pulls. It was only when the three of them almost tumbled down the stairs that Law finally slowed down.

Usopp shook out of Law's grip and breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the first landing, visibly relaxing as they crossed the threshold. As they crossed through the annexe he rotated his wrist while Chopper took a moment to sniff around. He could smell nothing but the same scent of old blood and death that he has been smelling since they arrived.

Usopp patted Chopper's hat and followed Law down the corridor. He stepped around Law and unlocked the door in the back corridor that led to another room. Law gently pushed him aside and went into the room first to look for any signs of trouble. Not sensing any, Law motioned for him to enter. Usopp checked the door for an automated lock and walked into the middle of the room.

It was another bedroom, decorated in emerald green and gold. Chopper jumped off Usopp's shoulder and began sniffing around the room, while Law and Usopp looked through the draws. A slight movement from the walk-in closet on the far left of the room caught Usopp's eye. He swallowed, fingering his Kabuto and toying with the ammo in his pocket while he shakily walked towards the door.

Law, noticing his distress cut him off and reached towards the door to the walk-in when it slammed open and the grey-skinned monster jumped out, lunging at them.

Usopp turned on his heels and pulled Law with him. He dragged him through the door and out into the corridors. When they hit the fork between the two corridors, he took the right one. Law followed closely behind him, making sure to keep an ear out for where that thing was. They reached the door at the end of the corridor and Usopp hurried inside, pulling Law behind him and slamming the door shut. He fumbled with the lock before cursing and moving out of the way so that Law could lock it properly.

"We should be good," Usopp said, as he took Chopper off his shoulders and placed him on the ground. "It won't be able to get us here."

Chopper dropped the lid to the toilet so that he could sit. Something jabbed him in the back and he squeaked and jumped up onto Law's shoulder, tears in his eyes. Law drew out his sword and pointed it at the toilet, dropping it when he saw the small leggy creature in what looked to be a face towel standing where Chopper had been sitting. It had a scowl on it's pointed face and it's hands planted firmly on its hips.

"If you wish to sit, you must pay me! This is a place of business, not a restroom!"

Chopper peered over Law's shoulder, eyes wide, "place of business?"

Usopp grinned, "looks like it's offering to sell you something, Chopper."

"What do you have?" the reindeer asked.

The small creature disappeared and reappeared with a pop. It deposited a bottle of grog and a sealed package of sushi on the tank of the toilet. "Both for 1000 beri!"

"Do you guys want anything?" Usopp asked.

Chopper and Law shook their heads. Neither could think of a time they would be hungry enough to drink toilet sushi. "No thank you," Usopp said after a moment,

The tiny vender scoffed, "fine, fine, just get out then!"

Law pulled on Usopp's sleeve to get his attention. "We should get going, that thing should be gone by now."

"True," Usopp said, collecting Chopper from Law's shoulder and putting him on his own.

As they began walking the corridor, Law couldn't help but voice a question. "How did you know that it would be safe?"

Usopp merely smiled and tapped his temple. "Intuition," he said vaguely. The curt way he said it let Law know that he wouldn't be getting any more information on the matter.

"Did you notice that it keeps growing?" Chopper asked suddenly.

"Yeah, at this rate it won't be able to fit through doors soon!" Usopp said.

"That could work for or against us," Law muttered. He rubbed his hand through his hair and studied Usopp. Something about his responses didn't quite fit, but honestly, nothing Usopp had said in the last 48 hours felt sincere from the boy.

They fell into silence as Usopp led them back to the annexe and through to the other corridor, opposite the one the monster chased them out of.

"Where are we going?" Chopper asked.

"I want to look over here first before we go, give it some time to leave if it hasn't already." He pulled on Law's sweater. "C'mon, we can check out the kitchen."

Law sighed but followed the sniper into the kitchen. In the upper right corner of the room was a locked door. Usopp was able to get it open using a lockpick kit in his bag and a pantry was revealed. Empty boxes lined the shelves, as did serval other items but he ignored them. Instead, he reached up and removed the items on the top shelf. He made a triumphant noise when a small safe was exposed.

"Wow, Usopp! How did you know that there would be a safe up there!"

Usopp laughed, it was forced, but Law didn't think Chopper caught on. "Houses like this usually have a safe hidden in a place like this. They think it's subtle, but it's about as subtle as hiding one behind a painting."

"Can you open it?" Law asked.

Usopp scoffed and didn't dignify that question with a response except to say, "I'll need Robin's book of curses to make sure there isn't anything that could harm us. I don't sense anything right now, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything that could hurt us in there. Many curses lay dormant until something is tripped."

Law nodded, "we should go back to that room and see what is in that closet."

Usopp nodded and allowed Law to push him and Chopper out of the kitchen and back towards the room where they were attacked. The door where the monster had burst from remained wide open. After telling Usopp and Chopper to stay back he carefully approached it, sword in hand. He peeked inside but it was empty save for a lone piece of paper on the floor. He handed over the paper to Usopp before checking the top of the closet and the sides for any false walls or ceilings.

"What do you think it is?"

Usopp frowned at the paper, "maybe a graphic organizer of some sort?" He turned it 90 degrees, then 180 degrees before shrugging. "It looks like one of those worksheets I used to fill out at school all the time."

Chopper merely shrugged his shoulders, it looked like just some random doodling to him.

Law took the paperback and looked it over. There were two rectangles drawn in two different colours. It looked like something he had seen before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where. Sanji perhaps? He wasn't sure. "I feel like I've seen this before- but something is different about it."

Usopp shrugged, "we can show it to the others when they meet up, maybe they know."

Chopper hopped off of Usopp to go search a desk on the other side of the room, he rustled through various papers, pens and markers.

Law sighed and shoved the paper in his pants pocket before pulling Usopp against him. Usopp leaned his forehead against Law's clavicle and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. Law closed his eyes and pressed his face into Usopp's hair. Other than Chopper's rustling, silence permeated the room, until Usopp's den-den Mushi went off.

 _Puru-puru-puru-puru-puru_ _,_ "what the fuck!" Usopp exclaimed, throwing himself away from Law and frantically looking for his baby den-den mushi.

 _Puru-puru-puru-puru-puru_ _._ He frantically checked the pockets him his bag before triumphantly pulling it out from under a spare sweater. _Puru-puru-gacha!_ _-_ , silence was all that met him. Just as Usopp was about to hang up a single piano note played, before the line went dead.

"What was that?" Chopper asked, jumping onto Law's shoulder to study the den-den mushi in Usopp's hand.

"It sounded like a piano key," Usopp muttered, pocketing it in his pants. "I thought maybe it was from the ship, but it didn't change its form so I can't say for sure. When I tried to get a call out to the ship today, I wasn't able to. The magic here is messing with the psychic lines."

Chopper sighed, deflating onto Law's shoulder, "I hate this place. It's scary, smelly and makes no sense." He held up his hoof, a frown on his face. "First, we escape the monster upstairs, but somehow it was able to get down here and into the closet, before we did, this entire place smells like it is covered in old blood and magic but you can't see the remains of it anywhere, and now someone is leaving us clues!"

Usopp leaned into Law before sighing, "they're taking a really long time. We should go upstairs and check on them, they might need us." Law nodded and led them out of the room, they needed to get to the bottom of what was happening and soon.

o0o

With Robin and Sanji leading the way, it was a short walk to the room with the piano on the third floor. Zoro followed behind the group and kept one of his swords out in case they were attacked from behind. Sanji took up the front.

"There is a Library and the Piano room on this floor," Zoro said, he turned towards the Library, stopping just outside the open door. "It's the other room," he said, pointing the other way, a blush on his face.

Robin entered the room first, a grimace on her face, followed by Sanji who wasn't bothered. Zoro stood outside in the corridor, arms crossed over his chest. He would be more useful to them outside the room than inside at this point.

Sanji walked to the piano in the middle of the room, he recognized it as the room he fell into when Nami pulled the lever, the one entirely covered in white. From what little he knew of what housed magic, he could tell that the room was perfect for it, or rather, the perfect decoy. Why he hadn't thought of it before, he didn't know, but he guessed it had something to do with him not being able to sense it very well. He could brew a mean potion though.

Sanji ran his fingers over the keys of the piano absentmindedly, stopping when a splash of colour caught his eye. He leaned down and studied them curiously. The colours were smeared across an octave. Four of the keys had black marks on them, but they were much too worn to make out, and others were coloured in blue, red, green and yellow.

He hadn't seen anything so far that would require letters or numbers. Both were usually used for codes of some sort for safes, vaults and the like. He ran his fingers over the keys again and pressed down on a few of them.

"Knock that the fuck off!" Zoro growled, hand gripping his forehead. His hand was shaking, and he was panting.

Sanji raised his eyebrow, "what's wrong?"

Zoro shook his head, "it's…"

The room suddenly felt so humid it was difficult to breathe.

"Sanji look out!" Robin pulled him from the piano just as a grey fist came out of nowhere.

The monster stood by the piano looking around the room. Sanji froze and looked up at the monster with wide eyes, but it looked as if it couldn't see him. His eyes met Robin's and she shook her head, placing a finger to her lips.

Sanji held his breath as the monster walked over to the piano and brushed its hand over the keys. It walked around the piano and passed within a foot of where Sanji was sat on the floor. It stared at the bookshelves where Robin was standing before it walked towards the door.

It moved very gracefully, more so than one would assume based on it's build. They could hear it's thudding footsteps, but not one breath left its mouth- did it not need to breathe?

It was close to Sanji again so he made sure to stay as still as possible. For some reason, it couldn't see him, or sense him for that matter.

The monster stood in front of him, facing the piano. He could attack it if he wanted to, could probably snap its neck, but, all things pointed to that not being enough. Hell, it looked like it hadn't been hit at all even though they have faced it quite a few times already. It was almost as if it couldn't die.

And because it couldn't die, not in any way known to them, Sanji stayed quiet and watched with bated breath as it finally left the room. Sanji and Robin exhaled, feeling the room clear from the humid stale feeling the monster had brought into the room.

Robin kneeled beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, she too was breathing a bit heavy and seemed to be pulling in as much air as possible.

"Oi, shit-cook, Robin, what's going on?"

"Zoro, did you see it?" Robin called.

"See what, I can't see anything in here." Sanji looked up to see Zoro leaning against the door. He was looking into the room, and in their general direction, but not directly at him. His eyesight was gone again.

"That monster was in here," Robin said, standing and helping Sanji to his feet. "But it didn't attack us, it was almost as if it couldn't see us in here once we stopped making noise." She pursed her lips, "it had been able to sense where I and Sanji had been just moments before and where he had touched the piano, but not where we had physically been in the room while he was in it."

"Makes sense," Zoro grunted. "Are you sure it's gone?"

"Positive," Robin said. She fell silent for a moment as she closed her eyes and focused her energy, trying to get a sense of the room. "I think I figured out the purpose of this room and why it bothers you, Swordsman-san."

"Yeah, I have too. But have you figured out why my eyesight keeps leaving whenever that thing shows up?" Zoro asked.

"No, I am afraid I am not sure why that happens," Robin said apologetically.

"Hey, Zoro!" Chopper said, jumping on his shoulder suddenly.

"Chopper," Zoro reached up and rubbed between Chopper's antlers.

"Are you guys okay?" Usopp asked uncertainty as he slipped through the door with Law, watching with wide eyes as Zoro slid down the wall and sat on the floor with Chopper hanging off his chest.

"I'll be fine once we get out of this room," Zoro muttered, rubbing his hands over his face. "What did you guys find?"

Usopp sat in front of Zoro on the floor, "not much. We were ambushed by the monster when Law opened the closet in here."

"There was a safe in the kitchen," Chopper said, as he jumped down to Zoro's lap. He took the swordsman's face into his hooves and studied his eyes, moving the man's head back and forth until Zoro got annoyed and pushed him off.

"I'm fine, Chopper," he growled.

"T-There was another door in there, but we don't have the key for it yet." Usopp grabbed Chopper and shook his head to quiet the Doctor before he began to yell at Zoro.

Chopper shoved his hooves into his pockets and muttered to himself. His hoove met a piece of paper and he pulled it out. "Oh, yeah. I found this paper in the room down the hall. I don't think it means anything though."

Chopper held out the paper and Robin kneeled beside Usopp and took it from him. Law and Sanji moved towards the group and looked over her shoulder. "It looks like the other half of the paper I found earlier on the fourth floor," Sanji muttered. "Maybe it's some kind of code?"

"Let's hold on to that for a minute," Law suggested. "Was there anything you guys found out?"

"We know where the magic is housed," Robin offered.

"It is more like the magic station," Zoro disagreed.

"What do you mean?" Sanji asked, feeling lost.

"This room is where all the magic in the house is passing through and crossing over, but it's not where it is coming from," Zoro said.

"So what you are saying is, it's not the source- there is no use trying to break it in here then," Robin said.

Usopp hummed, "that means if we try to dismantle it here, one of two things will happen. Either the house will implode with us in it, or the spells will just go back to working as normal."

"So it would be a waste to try," Chopper said with a frown. "What can we do then?"

"Have you guys done anything, and have something happen?" Robin asked, "When we were all downstairs, Zoro broke a clock. It seemed to put Sanji's watch back to the correct time."

Sanji nodded in agreement, "before that happened my watch read '8:47' which was the time we entered the mansion yesterday. It hadn't changed until that happened."

"We were going to go around the second floor and destroy any others we found-"

"But then, Zoro went temporarily blind and thought it best to just settle here for you. I also got a call on my den-den mushi." Robin added, "all we heard was one musical note."

"I got one earlier as well," Usopp offered, "it played the sound 'La'."

"The note on mine was 'SOL'".

"Hm," Zoro's eyebrows raised when his den-den mushi began to ring. _Puru-puru-pu-gacha!_ A single note played before the den-den mushi went back to sleep. "What note was that?"

"Re, or D" Usopp offered. "M-maybe we should take a look at those papers. It might give us a clue on how to find Luffy and Franky."

Sanji pulled the paper out of his pocket and placed it on the floor. Chopper placed the other one beside it. The crew sat on the floor gathered around it.

"Can you see all right, Zoro?" Chopper asked.

Zoro grunted and shook his head, leaning his arms on his knees to try and see the papers. "No, it's blurry. All I see are shadows." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed."Why are we looking for Franky, by the way, only Luffy is missing."

"That's a mean trick, Zoro!" Chopper cried.

"Franky didn't come with us, it's not a trick!" Zoro snapped.

"Ok, who do we think is missing," Robin asked diplomatically.

"Nami, Franky and Luffy," Law said.

Sanji hummed, "Law, do you remember who came here with you?"

Law gave Sanji an odd look, "You, Nami and Usopp." He looked around, "Luffy came with Franky, Zoro, Robin and Chopper."

"Luffy's here?" Usopp asked, shaking a bit. "I thought he was on his way."

"No, he was definitely here," Law said, with a frown. "Is everyone getting affected by this sudden loss of memory?"

Sanji hummed and stood suddenly. He walked to the corner of the room where the dressers were and began rifling through them. He stopped and pulled out a small pocket watch. The hands-on the watch were racing around, the hour hand moving as if it were the second hand, and the other ones moving much quicker. He raised his hand and threw it down hard, smashing it.

Suddenly, the room around him faded and he could see Luffy running through the door with a screaming Chopper, _yes he remembered that_. Suddenly, that memory faded to Nami standing beside him, arms crossed under her chest, _"this is where they said they were going, right?"_

" _That's what Usopp said," Sanji murmured beside her._ Yes, that memory made sense. _He came to the mansion with Nami to check if Law and Usopp were alright. They had been gone an entire day._

Except, he remembered Franky and Chopper joking about setting up a prank on Luffy when he caught up with them.

But that wasn't right, he couldn't have come with them.

Was it with the larger group them? With Nami, Robin, Franky and Chopper- trying to find Luffy, Usopp, Law and Zoro? Franky had run up the porch, but Nami had tried to hold him back.

No, he didn't come with them.

" _Are you sure this is the place Luffy and the others went?"_

_"That's what the villagers said," Usopp insisted. "Although, it looks much nicer than I thought it would be based on the descriptions."_

_Nami crossed her arms, "I know! I almost regret not coming with them last night. There is probably loads of treasure in there to steal!"_

_Sanji placed his hands in his pockets and gave an exasperated sigh. "They probably got bored and wandered off. There doesn't seem to be much to keep Luffy's attention here." Law hummed in agreement before he tensed, his hand moving to his sword._

Yes, he remembers now.

Sanji took a deep breath and blinked the memory away.

"Why the fuck would you do that without any warning?" Zoro growled, gripping his head.

"Zoro, are you okay!?" Usopp asked, leaning over to press a hand to Zoro's shoulder.

"I'm blind, I don't need to fucking hallucinate too!" He growled.

"I think I might have an idea, but I need help with the piano," Chopper said suddenly, looking down at the papers on the floor.

Usopp nodded and went to sit at the piano, "what were you thinking?"

Chopper placed the papers on the book stand and sat beside Usopp on the bench. "The colours on the paper match the ones on the piano. Each colour has a different number."

Sanji placed a hand on Usopp's shoulder and peered over at the papers, "maybe this is the code to the safe you guys found."

"If that's the case, we still need one more note," Law said.

"In any case, figuring out one number is better than figuring out four," Robin said.

However, they wouldn't need to for, at that moment, Law's den-den mushi began to ring. _Puru-puru-puru-puru-puru-gacha!_ Law handed it over to Usopp, who listened intently. "Si, which is B," He looked down at the piano, "La, Sol, Re, Si." He took the pieces of paper and wrote their corresponding notes and numbers on each colour. "So, in order, the numbers are 8476."

Usopp pushed himself away from the piano and motioned towards the door, "we should go check this out. It's the only lead we have."

Law nodded, "Let's go." Law left and the other's followed, Usopp, Zoro and Sanji taking up the end of the group as Zoro refused to let Sanji lead him around.

"I'm not a dog!" The swordsman growled.

"Whatever, Marimo," Sanji muttered, placing his hand against Zoro's lower back and pushing him forward. "Coming Usopp?"

"I-I'll is there in a minute," Sanji nodded and left with the others, leaving Usopp alone in the room.

Usopp sighed, and ran his fingers over the keys, smudging the marker and dirtying his fingers with the mixture of colours. "Should I wipe them off now or later?" he muttered to himself. The next time they need to go into the safe, the pin will change.

He pulled his fingers from the keys and sighed, hurrying after the others as their voices began to lose themselves in the stairwell. He better hurry, he didn't want them to get suspicious.

He wasn't, _lying_ , not really. Just omitting some information, but it was important to do so. He knows Sanji was likely catching on, but he needed to make sure they did everything in the right order at the right time. If they did anything wrong, someone would die, and he couldn't let that happen, not again.

_To be continued…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, erm… this is embarrassing. I’ve actually had this written since like 20 Aug, but I got caught up in Midnight Sun and life and… life. I am trying for more frequent updates but, unlike my Twilight story, I don’t have a beta for this one so it takes me a while to go through everything myself.


	5. The Study Under the Stairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING
> 
> Drawing at the end of the chapter MAY upset some readers, approach with caution.
> 
> Please check the 'End of Chapter Notes' before beginning this chapter if you use trigger warnings for your readings.

* * *

**The House on the Hill**

_The Study Under the Stairs_

* * *

_Click!_ The safe’s door popped open revealing another key. Robin delicately took the key from the safe and looked it over. “It’s for a study on the ground floor,” she announced before handing it to Sanji to keep with the others.

“There are only two doors left to open down here,” Law said from his spot by the door to the kitchen.

“We can all go together,” Chopper suggested.

“What if the monster’s waiting for us?” Usopp whimpered, his hands squeezing Law’s arm.

The surgeon rolled his eyes and peeled Usopp’s thin long fingers, one at a time, from him. He patted the sniper’s hand softly before dropping it and crossing his arms over his chest, giving a puff of annoyance. “It’s not a good idea for all of us to go.”

“Split up then?” Sanji suggested. “Usopp, Law, and I are most familiar with the house. The rest of you can stay in a secure location while we scout the room. Once we know which door it is and whether we can all fight in the room, we will come back for you.”

“We will wait here,” Franky said definitively. “There’s more than enough room and it will be easy for you guys to get back to if you need to in a hurry.”

“And this will give me time to check out Zoro a bit more,” Chopper said, jumping onto Zoro’s shoulder.

Zoro scoffed but otherwise didn’t object. He wouldn’t be as much use with his eyesight the way it was. Not with them merely scouting out the correct door. Robin readily agreed with the arrangement and moved to sit at the kitchen table, pulling out a spell book she took from the Library and a notebook.

Chopper was already leading Zoro to sit at the kitchen table beside her so he could run tests on the swordsman’s eyesight. “What can you see when I do this?”

“Light,” Zoro grunted.

“And if I do…”

Usopp followed Sanji and Law out the kitchen door, making sure he firmly closed it behind himself before slipping into the dark shadows of the mansion’s ground floor.

The first locked door they tried was in the front corridor. It took the key, but wouldn’t unlock it. After jiggling it for a moment, Sanji pulled the key from the lock and shook his head. “It must belong to the other room.”

They walked through the corridor by the stairs and into the back corridor. Sanji took the lead with Usopp in the middle and Law taking up the back. It was quiet, almost too quiet in the darkness.

They stopped at the locked door hidden behind the stairs. Sanji pushed the key in and turned, the lock opening with a telltale _click!_ before the door popped open to reveal another study.

The study held several mahogany bookcases that lined the walls. A large, cluttered table marred with burns and ink stains stood in the middle with several mismatched chairs around it. One lay on its side, and there was a handprint on the seat, made in what looked like dried blood.

The room itself was large and airy, the only other thing in it being a large plush black rug in the center of the room under the desk.

Law went to the table, while Usopp took the bookcases. Sanji took a careful look around the room, wondering what, exactly, the room was for. “It’s bigger than a normal study,” he commented.

“Hm,” Law agreed while he sat down at the table. Gently, he ran his fingers over the top of the table and underneath, pausing when his fingers met with a switch. He flipped it, shrugging when nothing happened.

“There’s another watch on the bookcase. What do you want me to do with it?” Usopp asked, picking up the pocket watch by the chain and allowing it to hang from his long fingers.

“Leave it be,” Law said, standing from the table and pushing his chair in. “We have no idea what it might do if we take it out of the room. We can break it when the others are in here.”

Usopp nodded and placed the watch back on the bookcase. A moment after he placed it on the shelf where he found it, the sound of a switch being activated resonated through the room. He jumped back in alarm as the bookcase he was examining swung out several inches.

“It’s another door!” He pulled it open the rest of the way and motioned for the others to follow him inside. “I don’t think we should shut this behind us. What if it gets stuck?”

Law nodded in agreement and walked into the room. Usopp stood by the door while Sanji was still looking through the other room. “There’s a cell in here.”

“A cell?” Sanji called, confused.

“Like what you might find in a dungeon?” Usopp asked, meeting Sanji’s confused gaze and shrugging. He couldn’t see much from his position, it was much too dark in the room due to the lack of windows.

“Hn, there’s a box in here too.” Law called, “come in here.”

Usopp followed his instructions but worriedly looked behind himself at Sanji, who was taking his time. Sanji only stepped into the room when his skin goose-pebbled from a sudden chill in the air. He gracefully slipped into the cell behind Usopp as the sniper leaned down to open the box. Inside was another key. He pulled it out and looked over at Sanji, his eyes widening in shock.

Law glanced at Usopp’s face, “God-ya, you look ill. What’s wrong?” His eyes appraised the sniper’s expression, his lips turning down into a frown.

“I… I made a mistake again…” he whispered, almost too softly for the other two men in the room to hear him.

“Usopp, what’s wrong?” Sanji asked urgently, kneeling to his friend’s level and placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

“I made another mistake!” his voice filled with agony as he pulled roughly at his hair.

The cell door slammed against the bars with the force of the monster’s entry, shaking the very floor where they stood.

“How the hell did the shit-monster find us so quickly?” Sanji hissed, turning to keep Usopp behind his body, away from the monster’s range.

“I was sure I didn’t make any mistakes this time!” Usopp growled, hands curling into fists. “I was positive!”

“Usopp, what the fuck are you talking about?” The cook growled, his eyes not leaving the Monster in front of them.

Law pulled Sanji and Usopp behind him, “Stand behind me!”

Law was cut down before their eyes, his head rolling past their feet where they stood.

“Usopp, run!” Sanji commanded, throwing a kick at the monster. But it had been too late.

The sounds of fighting and bloodshed faded around Sanji. The last thing he heard was Usopp’s fading voice from somewhere above his head. The sniper’s blood coated his body, mixing with his own.

_“Fuck… I had been so close… I was positive I had done everything right this time… that I hadn’t made any… mis...takes…”_

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Major Character Death(s) and Bloodshed (picture and text)
> 
> Happy New Year! I struggled with this chapter, and I realized it was because I was trying to make it longer than it needed to be. Once I separated them, the next chapter wrote itself with no issues. That is why you have such a mini, heart-wrenching chapter. 
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoyed it!
> 
> Be classy, make good choices, and I hope to hear from you soon!
> 
> All my love,
> 
> Chandlure


End file.
